Rat with broken top teeth due to injury

[Laurie]

One of my rats (Isabelle) who is only 4 months of age, just broke her two top teeh off, under the gumline. She was chewing on the bars of her cage, and when her teeth hooked on the bars, she panicked. Unable to get her off, because of her flailing, she ended up pulling back so hard that her two top teeth broke off.
This isn't the first thing that's been wong with her, she's currently being treated for an abcess on her neck, and her teeth seem abnormally fragile, they're white, they break often, and she's got an overbite severe enough that the vet advised me to trim them monthly.

I know I'm supposed to feed her soft foods until they grow back.... Im just concerned that they've been damaged so badly that they will grow back even more misaligned than they were origionally. It's extremely distressing to trim her teeth for both her and I..
I really love her and I'm at a loss of what to do....I'm going to take her to the vet tomorrow, firstly, however I just...I'm not sure, I feel terrible about having to cause her all this pain to try to heal her (especially the trimming of the teeth, and the betadine flushing of her abcess. Fyi, my vet told me to do that once a day, and she's on Baytril for 14 days, of which she's got seven days left.

 

[Rachael]

Is it possible she had a seizure? The panic?

I had 21 rats all related and they all had eplilepsy to some degree, one of them was chewing the bars, had a seizure, and that's why he couldn't let go of the bars, he seriously injured his teeth.

 

[Laurie]

Is it possible she had a seizure? The panic?

I had 21 rats all related and they all had eplilepsy to some degree, one of them was chewing the bars, had a seizure, and that's why he couldn't let go of the bars, he seriously injured his teeth.

No, she calmed down breifly during her panic, she seemed like she was trying really hard to get free from the bars, it was just that her top teeth were hooked around the bar (they're abnormally long because of her malocclusion, though I trim them monthly). What kind of injuries did your rat sustain? Were they permanent?

 

[Rachael]

Not as bad as your little one, his teeth were pulled forward and sticking out of his mouth, his face swollen, and his jaw fractured He was in a lot of pain.

http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab54 ... /004-1.jpg
http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab54 ... th/005.jpg
http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab54 ... /030-2.jpg

 

[lilspaz68]

Does she have malocclusion that can be fixed eventually or will this be on ongoing thing all her life? White teeth are not a good sign at this time Have you considered having all her incisors removed surgically instead of multiple trims?

With those front teeth broken off, you are going to need to trim the bottom incisors really really often (more often than once a month) until they grow back enough to start grinding each other down. Where is the abscess on your girl's neck? Was it an injury? I would flush twice a day and it will heal faster don't worry. You are diluting the betadine right?

 

[Rachael]

Have you considered having all her incisors removed surgically instead of multiple trims

I would agree with this...... it's a big operation but I think too stressful for them to constantly have their teeth clipped back, if they grew too long they will start to dig into her top gums which would be sore for her.

 

[Laurie]

Not as bad as your little one, his teeth were pulled forward and sticking out of his mouth, his face swollen, and his jaw fractured He was in a lot of pain.

http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab54 ... /004-1.jpg
http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab54 ... th/005.jpg
http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab54 ... /030-2.jpg

Aww poor cutie. I went to the vet today and luckily the swelling in her face was down by the morning, and the vet said that since she wasn't showing signs of pain when being touched around her mouth, her jaw was fine. She suspects that the teeth might grow out more misaligned than before, however

 

[Laurie]

Does she have malocclusion that can be fixed eventually or will this be on ongoing thing all her life? White teeth are not a good sign at this time Have you considered having all her incisors removed surgically instead of multiple trims?

With those front teeth broken off, you are going to need to trim the bottom incisors really really often (more often than once a month) until they grow back enough to start grinding each other down. Where is the abscess on your girl's neck? Was it an injury? I would flush twice a day and it will heal faster don't worry. You are diluting the betadine right?

The teeth should grow back according to the vet. I don't see how it'd be a good idea to permanently remove her front teeth in this case..her malocclusion has been there since she was born, she's just going to need tooth trims. When her teeth are at a proper length, she can eat crunchy foods and all, after about a month she is unable to brux and eating begins to become tricky.
As for the abscess, it's on her neck caudal to her ear on the bottom left side. It doesn't seem to come from an injury that I could tell... When she was having it lanced by the vet, the vet checked to see if it was caused by a tooth and it didn't seem to be. They gave me a betadine solution to flush it with that was diluted 50%, telling me to flush it with that once a day. Would it be beneficial to dilute it further? I'm definitely going to start flushing twice a day now.

 

[Laurie]

Have you considered having all her incisors removed surgically instead of multiple trims

I would agree with this...... it's a big operation but I think too stressful for them to constantly have their teeth clipped back, if they grew too long they will start to dig into her top gums which would be sore for her.

Hmm, I'll think about it. I can see the logic behind it, I'd just feel bad about having a rat's teeth removed....then again, I feel bad when I clip her teeth..

 

[Laurie]

Yay! My baby's teeth are growing back in rather quickly, and they seem straighter than before to my utter disbelief and joy. She seems to be bruxing again and griding then down evenly when they weren't evenly being worn down prior to this, nor was the break on her top incisors even. I'm so pleased, she's as energetic and happy go lucky as she was before the abcess and tooth injury happened.
As for her abcess, I began to flush it twice a day, and it's flattened, no pus comes out and the hole gets substantially smaller each day . Thanks for that tip, it helped a lot!

Much love, Laure :heart:

 

[lj]

Good to hear.

 

[jorats]

That is great!