Guinea Pig Oral Problems
Guinea Pigs suffer from overgrowth of their teeth. When this happens to the back teeth they tend to form a bridge, trapping the tongue. Guniea Pig tongues are a little unusual in they have a large domed portion at the back. When this trapping occurs they have difficulty in swallowing properly, they also tend to drop food out of their mouths and sometimes sores can develop on the lips. Also because proper chewing is vital to digestion they can develop diarrhoea or colic. They also lose weight.
The green arrows show the trapped tongue and the blue arrows show the bridging of the cheek teeth.
This radiograph of the skull prior to treatment shows the disorganised bridging (red arrows) and also the development of little bone cysts where the trapped cheek tooth roots are growing back into the jaw (green arrows).
A special dental bur (a small wooden spatula is used to protect the tongue when in use) is used to trim the affected teeth down to a normal length.
This is the initial post-op radiograph. You can see how the cheek teeth have been trimmed to a more normal lenght. In actual fact more tooth needs to be trimmed down to allow the mouth to close a little tighter. But this little Guinea Pig was so emaciated that we kept the anaesthetic time to a minimum. After recovery and the pig had regained body condition and weight a further procedure was undertaken to trim the teeth back farther.
This shows the imediate post-operative appearance of the trimmed cheek teeth. The tongue (green arrow) is now free to move as the tooth bridge has been removed.
It is essential that Guinea Pigs have a diet high in roughage to encourage chewing and tooth wear.
They also need Vitamin C in their diets.
Did You Know?
Ferret's Teeth
Ferrets can get dental disease too - remember to carefully check them over.
