Vet made Teeth problems worse??

[Aziza]

Okay, so I am kinda frustrated/lost. My chinchilla, Riona, that I have had for over six years has been having teeth problems. Since May, she has been drooling and having a hard time eating. The vet that I have always taken her to (which I have seen three times for the same problem) messed up one time. He told me that he wanted to file down her back teeth while she was awake. He assured me that everything would be okay.

He came back with her in his arms, she looked completely demoralized and then he said, "That went pretty well... except that her tooth cracked." I was like "What?" Then he showed me one of her incisors had cracked due to the pressure from his tool. He then assured me that it would grow back.

It has been months now, her teeth have grown in length, but the tooth that is cracked is still growing like a half-tooth in width. Will her tooth ever grow back to normal? I'm scared, sad, angry, I feel helpless.

I took her to another vet, he was very thorough and he said her lower incisors were over grown. He gave me antibiotics and the drooling has subsided, however, she is still struggling to eat.

I don't know what to do anymore.

 

[tunes]

Well, if her lower incisors are overgrown, then they need taken care of first. If they aren't at a decent length, it makes it hard for her to chew. As far as the broken tooth, as far as I know, anybody who has ever had a tooth pulled on a chin has not seen regrowth. I just had a chin have to have a tooth removed. For some bizarre reason, it was hanging, literally, by a thread. He kept losing weight and the vet and I were just at a loss. I took him to a friend and her vet found the problem and took care of it. Pain free, toothless (1 molar), and now he's eating and gaining again.

Ask your new vet about removing the tooth. I can only imagine how incredibly painful a broken/split tooth must be for your chin. It isn't going to grow back together again, and if the first vet thought that, maybe he's more hopeful than he should be. Normally teeth don't reform after they are split in half. They grow from the root up and if the root is damaged, the tooth is done. If it was true that it would repair itself, I'd have never had to have a root canal.

Maybe once you get the teeth trimmed down and the broken tooth removed, relieve the pain and restore normal chewing function, then he'll be able to get back to normal eating again.

 

[LemonSqueezi]

I agree about removing the tooth. That must be painful! I have a male here with no bottom incisors and he does fine. I just have to keep the top trim for him. Poor baby, hope it goes well!

 

[Sugarmama]

It sounds like the root was damaged. One of my chins broke off the two top front teeth--but they grew back quickly. I had to hand feed for several days, but they re-grew in less than a week, enough for him to start eating on his own without problems.

In this amount of time, if the tooth was healthy enough to grow, it would have. Perhaps since it cracked while he was working on a different tooth, he would remove the damaged one at no cost to you. The opposing tooth (the one the damaged tooth rubs up against and keeps it short) will likely have to be trimmed regularly, with nothing to rub against and wear it down.

 

[Aziza]

thanks so much to everyone for the feedback! she already has an appointment with the second vet for Friday.