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Tooth filing

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Gingerspider

Junior Guinea Pig
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So it's been about 2 months since our 4 year old boar Len started having trouble eating and had weird poops. I'm pleased to say that he's been eating totally normally, maintained his weight and even stopped barbering. No squishy poops and seems tip top. He has however had varying different tooth shapes (off and on being very uneven at the front) so we finally managed to get him into an exotic who specialises in teeth. Guinea Dad is taking him over to Southport tomorrow and is really anxious. Obviously we need to take him and do whatever the vet advises but we're both nervous because we've lost both our previous boys under anesthetic and he seems so healthy and happy right now and to make things worse I'm away for work
Can anyone advise what's likely to happen? Will he be put under? If so, what sort of aftercare and how risky might it be? His weight is healthy, coat shiny and all in all is a happy pig but so was Martin and it's really chewing us up.
 
It’s such a worry not knowing what to do for the best. If he’s eating fine now and not losing weight then I wouldn’t rush to have anything done yet. You could go for the consultation and see what the vet recommends but maybe his teeth need a little bit more time to settle down. Good luck.
 
Thanks. That's what I thought. I wondered if he maybe broke/lost a tooth a couple months ago (as it was very sudden) and maybe he's been growing it back, hence the different shaped teeth. I know when I've have dental work (and sadly I've had a bit) it can take a while for my bite to align itself again. Maybe it's the same?
 
Update: Len went to see the specialist (despite waiting several months, it wasn't actually the specialist) who checked him over. Said he was a v. Healthy piggy with nothing else obvious and back teeth were fine. Described his front bottom teeth were abnormal. He has a lump and it almost looks as though he has another tooth growing through and pushing the other tooth at an angle. Had suggested a CT scan under GA to further investigate and said they can remove the front bottom teeth and that they won't grow back but that they don't need them?
That sounds risky to me?
The shape of his teeth seem to change weekly and he's eating completely normally. I'm not feeling particularly in favour of driving him 3 hours again and putting him under GA if he's healthy in every other way and regularly grind his teeth down.
Had anyone else had a piggy with a similar issue?
 
Update: the vet rang back and said the specialist had looked at pictures and thought it was a macrodont and advised doing a CT scan under GA and a removal. She said she thought it was either a hereditary issue (he's 4 and never had this before) or lack of vitamin c (not only do they have a great diet but we add extra bit c AND he's exceptionally healthy otherwise)
If I'm honest I'm a bit frustrated because it seems fairly obvious to me that he's injured his tooth whilst we were away, its grown back weird and I would have expected they offer to burr it down and see how he gets on considering how healthy he is?
I read a few articles on here discussing 'fat tooth' which looks exactly like what Len has and I'm wondering if anyone has had any success treating that?
 
I can’t help with the dental issue but just wanted to say if by extra vit c you mean that you are supplementing, then you do need to be very careful. Its not recommended to give any vit c supplement except in a maximum course of two weeks during a period of illness as an immune system booster.
Giving more vit c than they need can end up (on the lesser side of the problem) being wasteful as excess is simply excreted straight out in the urine but it can also end up being harmful. With a good balanced diet no additional vitamin c is needed nor should it be given. Long term supplementation can actually cause issues as their bodies become used to an unnecessary high amount of vit c and thus if that level drops below which their bodies have become used to, it can respond with scurvy symptoms. This means that any piggy who has been long term supplemented cannot just stop receiving it as piggy will then become ill. Supplementation must be weaned off very gradually and carefully over several weeks.

Wiebke

Thread 'Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets'

1 The recommended ratio of food groups
2 Hay and fresh grass
3 Vegetables, fresh herbs and fruit with an illustrated balanced sample diet
4 Special dietary needs
- Urinary tract infections, bladder stones and sterile IC (non-bacterial interstitial cystitis)
- Diabetes and long term digestive problems
- Impaction in boars
- Pregnancy and nursing dietary tweaks (only visible to registered members who have accepted our no intentional breeding policy)...
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Gingerspider said:
Update: the vet rang back and said the specialist had looked at pictures and thought it was a macrodont and advised doing a CT scan under GA and a removal. She said she thought it was either a hereditary issue (he's 4 and never had this before) or lack of vitamin c (not only do they have a great diet but we add extra bit c AND he's exceptionally healthy otherwise)
If I'm honest I'm a bit frustrated because it seems fairly obvious to me that he's injured his tooth whilst we were away, its grown back weird and I would have expected they offer to burr it down and see how he gets on considering how healthy he is?
I read a few articles on here discussing 'fat tooth' which looks exactly like what Len has and I'm wondering if anyone has had any success treating that?
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Hey, I’m sorry to hear your guinea pig is going through some dental issues. My Guinea pig Kevin recently had a “fat tooth” due to his tooth breaking and growing back abnormal. The tooth ended up splitting vertically causing infection in his gum. In the end it had to be removed under GA. Our vet told us the issue with the fat tooth is that it can splinter.

Tooth problems in guinea pigs are a real nightmare x
 
Thanks for the replies. I think he must have broken it and grown a 'fat tooth' picture below is it today however both sets seems to change shape every few days. He's certainly wearing them down.
 

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I think he has developed a fat tooth. If he is wearing his incisors down and there’s no abscess or infection I would be disinclined to have any surgery done provided he is maintaining his weight and eating well. make sure you weigh him weekly and record his weight. You are basically looking for a trend. If his weight was/or started declining then seek help but his teeth may level out all by themselves provided he keeps eating plenty of hay.

There is a very experienced vet who deals with many guinea pigs every week who have various dental problems. He can tidy up wonky incisors with a very small whiff of gas. It generally takes a few minutes and I can thoroughly recommend him. It’s a fair distance but he really is an expert - Simon Maddock, Cat & Rabbit Clinic, Northampton
 
Thank you so much. He's gained a bit of weight this week which is great. He's definitely wearing them down because they change shape regularly, although sometimes the 'not fat tooth' can be a bit longer it doesn't appear to be affecting him. I'll check out the clinic though it is very far from us. Thanks for the tip
 
Gingerspider said:
Thank you so much. He's gained a bit of weight this week which is great. He's definitely wearing them down because they change shape regularly, although sometimes the 'not fat tooth' can be a bit longer it doesn't appear to be affecting him. I'll check out the clinic though it is very far from us. Thanks for the tip
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If you went to see Simon Maddock, you will get a proper assessment of any problem with his back teeth. Sometimes incisor can be an indication of a problem with the back teeth, although I had a similar situation as you that one of mine broke an incisor which impacted his other incisors. His back teeth were absolutely perfect, he just needed a tidy up on his front incisors every now and again. Whereas my other boar Ted had a dental spur in a molar which caused him pain as it grew 8n to his cheek, this did not impact his incisors at all. As you can see dental problems can very very minor (and best left well alone if the piggie is eating well in most cases) or the total opposite. the main thing if you decide to go for any procedure is the skill of the vet, there are so many that completely mess up their teeth to the point of no return.

Simon Maddock is best! he will put your mind at ease as you will have an honest and experienced assessment by him. It’s unlikely you would need a CT scan, he is very hands on
 
We're playing it by ear but decided to book him back in because the longer bottom tooth wasn't getting shorter, however tonight we checked and he's missing the 'fat' tooth. Went searching in his cage and found this whopper. Maybe snapped off or maybe fallen out? He seems to be eating ok, running around. If it's fully fallen out should we be trying to get him seen sooner?
 

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I thought I could smell something a bit off on his breath last night. The cavity looks quite clean though. He's booked in for Tuesday with Molly Vargas vets in St Helens so will wait until then, unless he has issues with eating. Won't be able to get in over the weekend anyway...why is it always weekends!
 
Len seems to have made some sort of miraculous recovery. Since his tooth fell out he's been eating like a king, running around with boundless energy and even did a zoomie (something I haven't seen him do since he was little) also no barbering and hair all grown back and coat looking lush.very odd. Wondering if that tooth was an issue for a while?
 
Oh dear, poor Lens issues return! We ended up not taking him to the vets due to his miraculous recovery and since then he's been healthy and maintaining weight ect (with the exception of a couple of times he's had impaction and then recovered again)
This week, again following a night away he's been gradually eating less and being very picky with what he does eat. His front tooth seems to have disappeared again and he's been visibly struggling with his chewing. Weight has dropped slightly. We thought we would wait a couple of days as his previous impaction issues resolved with some help from us, however we can't get any more out and he seems to be not pooping at all today.
Very worried with the lack of poop and considering a trip to the vet but also worried as we cannot get him to the specialist and will need to take him to the normal vets which didn't seem to be able to do anything last time!
I'm right in thinking though that a lack of poops is an emergency?
 
Also worth saying every time he has been unwell has been when we have either been out for the night and not fed him at the same time, or away and he's been fed by somebody else.
 
I’m sorry to hear this

I would step in with syringe feeding - you don’t want him eating less fibre; and yes get him checked by a vet
 
We've managed to get Len in with the specialist next Tuesday and I'm pleased to say he's put on a bit of weight over the weekend and characteristically now seems much better (always happens when we get a vet booking!)
At the appointment they've said they will take a look but have suggested again a CT scan to see what is happening with his teeth/anything else. My worry is, that at 5yo is a CT scan going to be super traumatic for him? He's having these episodes every few months but seems to recover and obviously would like to find the cause and treat but I'm super worried about him under GA. Has anyone else had an older boy under for CT and what was the recovery like?
 
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