Malocclusion Experiences and Links To Gp Illnesses

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RavenShade
Thanks for the Memories

Post   » Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:18 pm


Steve's Teeth

He was 6 years old, an American Crested.

He also developed kidney problems. The kidney problems became primary. It caused difficulty with pain management because meloxicam is not reccomended with kidney disease. I learned how to do subqs to keep him hydrated.

Sigh. I miss that pig.

pinta

Post   » Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:47 am


Personally, I believe the heart condition causes the maloccluson and in most cases of seniors it is related to weakening muscle strength. If it takes too much effort to eat due to a bad heart and they are too weak to grind their teeth properly, their teeth will overgrow.

Willie, for whom the Chin-Sling was designed was a heart pig. He had a heart condition since the age of 2 months. I believe he was about 3 years old when he had his first teeth filing. he required filing every 5 weeks and still lost weight. His vet and I figured out his jaw muscles were too weak to grind his molars and I developed the Chin-Sling to force his molars together. He never had to have his teeth filed again( lived to 5 years) and most likely couldn't take further sedation anyway since he turned blue if Dr. Legendre did an oral examination of his mouth.

Apatche's heart condition was discovered when he underwent sedation for his first teeth filing. He took twice as long as he should have to come out of the sedation. I can't remember the sequence of his first heart failure session that required emergency triage(he had two in his lifetime) and when he started to wear his Chin-Sling but I know Dr. legendre thought he'd be fine without one after the first teeth filing. A month later his teeth were overgrowing and by this time we knew he couldn't take sedation. We tried the Chin-Sling brain squishingly tight(Dr. Legendre's description) and Apatche was checked once a week. Withing three weeks he had self-ground down his molars and he never had to get his teeth filed again with continued Chin-Sling wearing.

Ferdinand(senior) was found to have teeth issues about 3 weeks before his death from heart failure. he never really recovered from the styress of the dental surgery 2 weeks before he died.

Quinn, the mother of Apatche and 2 other pigs who died from heart failure was on heart meds as soon as we realised there was an heart issue in the family. She developed TMJ on one side of her jaw after being on heart meds for some time.

Bo had an infected incisor that had to be extracted(his second one). He also had the start of elongated roots. He bore up excellently under sedation and recovered very well. He actually came out to ask for his Chin-Sling to be put on at the end of the day(this was a pig who informed us when the hay rack was empty) . I think it made his head feel better much as it had Willie who acted like a youngster as soon as he started wearing his - his PT said he'd probably had a chronic headache from the TMJ). he was acting like a younger pig, much more active until he suddenly died a a couple of weeks after his dental work. Necropsy showed lymphosarcoma affecting every organ incluing the heart. he died from the collapsed lungs and heart failure.

Currently we have 8 pigs on heart meds including the 3 skinnies and no one has teeth issues at the moment.

Perhaps heart problems are connected to muscle falure(TMJ) causing maloccluson.

pinta

Post   » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:57 am


It is important to note that if a pig is uncomfortable wearing a Chin-Sling it indicates there could be further dentalwork to be done. Elongated roots will be painful while wearing a Chin-Sling if not planed down enough, The pressure on an untreated abscess would be painful. Undiscovered spurs would be dig into the cheeks during the chewing while the chin-sling is on.

Once the Chin-Sling is on correctly the pig should be able to forget he/she is even wearing it. They'll be annoyed for the first few minutes and then should go on with their day or night.

We discovered Ferdinand had elongated roots when he couldn't handle wearing the Chin-Sling. Once the dentalwork was done, he could wear it(although his heart did him in soon after the dentalwork)

Sorry, didn't intend to hijack but thought it was important to make this point. If the Chin-Sling is uncomfortable, something is wrong and needs further investigation.

HollyT
Get on your bike.

Post   » Thu Dec 28, 2006 11:21 am


pinta was also more than helpful when it came to communication re. the chin sling and got back to me multiple times per day when necessary.

User avatar
Amadeus-sFam

Post   » Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:41 pm


Here is an update on Amadeus's malocclusion experiences:

1)Amadeus/Sheltie/4.6 years
2) 4 years at first treatment (2nd treatment was 2 months after first; 3rd treatment was 2 months and 1 week after 2nd treatment)
3) He is on heart medication. Does not eat cucumber or carrots very much any more. He is still being treated for parasites- his poop is still soft :(
4) I have been hoping to impede the malocclusion with toothbrush massages and by using the heart medicine. I have not yet used the chin-sling (he was being treat for parasite infection and I didn't want to further stress him by its use; also was hoping that the toothbrush massage and heart meds would work).

5) I recently had to get his teeth filed again but there was good news. First, I got them filed one week later than the last time (the time interval between treatments was longer). Next, the malocclusion was not as severe. Last time, I needed to get both teeth trimed and- worse -they were visably overgrowing onto his tongue. This time, I only had to get one side filed- and the overgrowth was minor.

Since the heart med. and toothbrush massages impeded the problem but didn't stop it I plan to:
1) Do longer toothbrush massages
2) Begin using the chin-sling.

ps thanks everyone for your posts! I appreciate the info.

User avatar
strigercake

Post   » Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:37 pm


1) Cupcake/American/almost 2 years old (deceased 2/1/05) due to post-anesthesia stress from surgery (according to vet)

2) 1 1/2 yrs at first treatment.
3) No other illnesses before or after that I am aware of
4) All teeth trimmed, filed and planed. Hand-syringed him for almost 4 weeks until he passed away in my arms. I constantly took him to the vet, bi-weekly for sub-q's and anything else that I could do to save him.

5) No other problems detected.

I miss my Cupcakers so much.

User avatar
PiggieMamma
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:40 pm


1) Name/Guinea pig breed/age
2) How old when first malocclusion treatment and how many treatments since
3) Heart problems/other illnesses experienced by pig (please specify before or after onset of malocclusion)
4) Treatment
5) Did treating the other problems (eg heart prob or others) hinder, delay or stop the malocclusion?
1) Roo/American Cross/16 mos
2) 16 mos - First (and only treatment, thus far) 02/28/07
3) Chronic inner ear infection (since at least 12/06) - unresponsive to a/bs (Baytril, Chloramphenicol) - Resulting in left side facial paralysis - Malocclusion believed to be secondary - Suspected heart condition - observed 'hooting' after tooth trim - Responsive to Lasix.
4) Lasix - .10 cc q24h/Baytril - .5 cc q12h/Metacam (five days following tooth trim) - .15 cc q12h/Critical Care - 120 cc/day/Nebulized w/ .4-.5 cc Sterile Saline PRN
5) Because the tooth trim was so recent, I've yet to see any improvement - but will update.

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Zoe

Post   » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:53 pm


My sister's piggy is suffering with tooth issues. She's a gorgeous cream colored Sheltie with dark skin and dark eyes. Age unknown, but probably between 2 and 4 years.

She had her molars trimmed last week. Vet said they were growing in various directions. She is currently being syringe fed regulary, is on TMS and Metacam. Brought her in to vet a couple of days after trimming and received subques and a shot of a pain killer with a name I can't remember.

She was previously a heavy water drinker. Not wanting to drink so much. Sometimes nibbles grass. Obviously not feeling good in the mouth. Sister trying to figure out what her dear girl's future is going to look like.

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mkkayla
Supporter in '14

Post   » Fri Apr 06, 2007 12:28 pm


My Hershey girl (history above) was diagnosed yesterday with probable IBD (irritable bowel) or colon cancer. The only way to find out for sure is with a colonoscopy and since the treatment would be the same for both (prednisone and supportive care), it doesn't really make any sense to take the risk and put her through that. The prognosis for one over the other, of course is different, but I'll love her until the end whether that end is close or not. Her symptom was bleeding from the rectum.

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mmeadow
Supporter 2004-2022

Post   » Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:19 pm


We recently lost two pigs to jaw problems leading to malocclusion, a mom and daughter. Lost the daughter because we didn't catch it in time (PLEASE weigh your pigs weekly. At least.) After that we monitored the mom very closely. She began to need tooth trims with increasing frequency. We then used Pinta's chin-sling which seemed to slow the frequency of the trims, but not by much. She ate less and less on her own, until we were feeding her a couple of hours a day. We didn't massage her jaw (also highly recommended by Pinta) but not sure that would have made enough difference. We put her down when it was clear we were not reversing the progress of her disease. There was no evidence of heart problems.

Sunbat

Post   » Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:32 pm


When our Piggy first started having 'maloclusion' issues, the vet said he had scurvy, which in turn caused the teeth to loosen and maloclude, however, he has always been on a high C diet and we just couldn't believe it. It took us about four weeks of hand feeding and we were afraid he would die when we went to a specialist who did a full range of xrays, found nothing and prescribed Prednisone for possible pain from inflamation. It took about three days and Piggy was back in action. Unfortunately, we have been back over and over for his inability to eat (more molars needed filing, he went back on prednisone for a spell). Curiously he developed two abscesses back to back the first occurred about one month after his first major filing. The first required surgery (it was streptococcal infection and did not respond to meds-bad stuff), the second was a bacteria the vet 'had never heard of' and baytril finally took care of it. In May after the second abcess, Piggy lost a bottom incisor which never grew back and just two days ago lost the other bottom incisor. He's able to eat well if we cut up his veggies into slivers and is gaining weight, but I still don't know what was the underlying cause of this whole nightmare he's endured.

To those who are feeling your pig will never bounce back, don't give up hope. Our Piggy is one resilient little guy and we call him the million dollar pig after all the vet bills we've paid. :) But we are so grateful he is alive and doing well. Try mixing water with pellets and a teaspoon or two of sweet potato baby food if your pig is having trouble eating. They love it.

Cherry Vanilla

Post   » Sat Sep 22, 2007 5:03 pm


Hello!
I live in Croatia, so I cant write english very well. I hope you will be able to understand my problem.
My guinea pig is 6 years old. Last few days he lost weight drastically, and he couldnt eat.
He wanted to, but it seemed he couldt. I suspected his teeth were owergrown, so I took him to vet.

Vet examined his teeth – both incistors and molars.
Incistors were a little owergrown, but molars were OK.

Vet trimmed his front teeth (lower), but now he doesnt eat at all!
I feed him myself with a little pieces of apple, banana... etc. I also make him an apple juice.
He also avoids drinking water so Im giving him water with syringe.

He still wants to eat, but now it seemes he cant bite properly with front teeth.
I put him a piece of apple on a tongue, and then he eats it.
He chews normally, so molars seems to be OK.

Is it normal that he cant eat, since his incistors were trimmed yesterday? When can I expect him to start eat normally? Vet told me he needs some time to adjust.
Has any of you had a similar problem?

Please, give me some advice, becouse Im desperate!

Thank you!

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