Dental care
Feline dental care This short video illustrates the surgical removal of an upper canine tooth in a cat with a severe resorptive lesion.
A guide to rabbit dentistry This video illustrates all of the instruments that we use when performing rabbit/small animal dentistry.
The British Veterinary Dental Association website
Below is a series of photos showing before and after images of a rabbit with a severe incisor overgrowth.
There are three different appearances of dental disease which may be seen
individually or in combination.
- Overgrown and misshapen incisors. If your rabbit allows handling you will be able to see its front teeth. If these are misaligned they will soon over grow into 'tusks'. These teeth can prevent the rabbit from picking up food, drinking and grooming properly. They may grow into the nearby soft tissues causing infections. They are also prone to getting caught and broken causing painful damage. Affected teeth may also be discoloured and ridged.
- A mismatch in the constant wear on the cheek teeth can cause sharp spurs and spikes to occur in the crowns. On the lower teeth these can cause ulceration on the tongue and from the upper teeth they can cause ulceration in the cheeks. This makes it extremely painful for the rabbit to eat.
- When the bone becomes soft the roots of the teeth can also move. This can lead to painful abscess formation and in some cases to blockage of the tear ducts which in turn can lead to sticky eyes.
