10 week (or so), broken tooth.

[Sadachara]

My little 10 week old girl broke the right bottom half of her tooth off. She chewed the very touch stitching on my desk chair and her tooth got caught and I think she just pulled hard and tore it. The little tooth fell off onto my chair and I found it shortly thereafter.

She was fussing with that side of her face for awhile by rubbing it on the cage (and anything else), but now she appears to have stopped fussing with it. She was nice enough to let me hold her, open her mouth, and examine it closely. There is a little stub left where the right side. It's not bleeding or anything, but the area does look a little red. (not bad)

Is there anything I need to do right now or just wait for it to grow back? She is still on formula and probably several weeks away from weening.

Thanks in advance!

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

My little 10 week old girl broke the right bottom half of her tooth off. She chewed the very touch stitching on my desk chair and her tooth got caught and I think she just pulled hard and tore it. The little tooth fell off onto my chair and I found it shortly thereafter.

She was fussing with that side of her face for awhile by rubbing it on the cage (and anything else), but now she appears to have stopped fussing with it. She was nice enough to let me hold her, open her mouth, and examine it closely. There is a little stub left where the right side. It's not bleeding or anything, but the area does look a little red. (not bad)

Is there anything I need to do right now or just wait for it to grow back? She is still on formula and probably several weeks away from weening.

Thanks in advance!

Hello Sadachara:
What is the name of your Squirrel?

Just to clarify, is it your Squirrels Right Lower Incisor that is broken? Also, it seems from your description that the tooth is broken but there is a remaining portion of the tooth that appears still secured in the jaw?

Could you post some photos?

If there is this portion of the broken tooth that is still present in the jaw, does it seem aligned with the intact tooth next to it? A broken incisor, with a significant portion of the original tooth still visible beyond the jaw ordinarily does not require any treatment and will regrow as the incisors continue to grow throughout the Squirrels life. Also, the incisor itself does not have any pain sensing and that is why we can trim them without anesthesia. That all being said, however, an injury such as this can damage the bone from where the tooth resides and grows and checking for alignment with the adjacent tooth suggest that the tooth is not loose and will regrow normally. Another thing you can do is to gently try to move the remaining portion of the tooth help determine if it is still firmly held withing the jaw. If it moves it suggests that the tooth is loose withing the jaw and/or the jaw itself is fractured and not able to maintain stability of the tooth. This can result in malocclusion if the jaw and tooth are able to be held in correct alignment during the healing process.

Also, although the tooth itself cannot feel pain, this injury is probably painful as there were considerable forces applied to the root and jaw areas that can cause pain so some sort of pain relief, I feel, would be in order! Do you have any Meloxicam (requires a prescription) or Infant Ibuprofen (available most anywhere and without prescription)? Please obtain an accurate weight of your Squirrel preferably in grams with a digital scale and let us know which of these preferred medications you have available and one of the Admins can send mixing and dosing instructions to you via Private Message!

Continued use of the formula and only very soft foods would be best for now. IF the broken portion of the tooth is loose within the jaw, I would recommend using only formula for at least the next 3 weeks. An x-ray study of the skull may reveal evidence of fracture. This is far easier for me to suggest than for you to have this done but it could be beneficial if the remaining portion of the tooth appears unstable (moveable)!

Please keep on with the updates.

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[Sadachara]

Thank you for the reply, and sorry about my delayed response.

I will continue to monitor her recovery and proceed as you instruct. It doesn't appear it broke off too low, there is a small portion of the tooth left. She seems fully recovered quite quickly, now I just need to ensure growth is proper.

Thank you.


Hello Sadachara:
What is the name of your Squirrel?

Just to clarify, is it your Squirrels Right Lower Incisor that is broken? Also, it seems from your description that the tooth is broken but there is a remaining portion of the tooth that appears still secured in the jaw?

Could you post some photos?

If there is this portion of the broken tooth that is still present in the jaw, does it seem aligned with the intact tooth next to it? A broken incisor, with a significant portion of the original tooth still visible beyond the jaw ordinarily does not require any treatment and will regrow as the incisors continue to grow throughout the Squirrels life. Also, the incisor itself does not have any pain sensing and that is why we can trim them without anesthesia. That all being said, however, an injury such as this can damage the bone from where the tooth resides and grows and checking for alignment with the adjacent tooth suggest that the tooth is not loose and will regrow normally. Another thing you can do is to gently try to move the remaining portion of the tooth help determine if it is still firmly held withing the jaw. If it moves it suggests that the tooth is loose withing the jaw and/or the jaw itself is fractured and not able to maintain stability of the tooth. This can result in malocclusion if the jaw and tooth are able to be held in correct alignment during the healing process.

Also, although the tooth itself cannot feel pain, this injury is probably painful as there were considerable forces applied to the root and jaw areas that can cause pain so some sort of pain relief, I feel, would be in order! Do you have any Meloxicam (requires a prescription) or Infant Ibuprofen (available most anywhere and without prescription)? Please obtain an accurate weight of your Squirrel preferably in grams with a digital scale and let us know which of these preferred medications you have available and one of the Admins can send mixing and dosing instructions to you via Private Message!

Continued use of the formula and only very soft foods would be best for now. IF the broken portion of the tooth is loose within the jaw, I would recommend using only formula for at least the next 3 weeks. An x-ray study of the skull may reveal evidence of fracture. This is far easier for me to suggest than for you to have this done but it could be beneficial if the remaining portion of the tooth appears unstable (moveable)!

Please keep on with the updates.

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[CritterMom]

Watch the upper tooth on that side - the one directly above the broken one closely during this process. Without the opposing tooth, it COULD overgrow, which would require that you temporarily trim it to keep it from becoming a problem.