Teeth
The teeth of rabbits are teeth very special, as they always are growing, and nails of humans, our teeth are always growing and so it is very important to always be chewing and biting things so they do not overgrow.
We have the front teeth that are the Posteriors , which normally we even let you humans see and then we have the teeth back there that are the Anteriors , those teeth only the veterinarian can see with a special device called Otoscope (it is like the one that your doctors use to see your ears), or with a stranger device and a little scary that opens our mouth and lets us see the back teeth, but in these cases we have to be sedated and usually only use to treat our teeth.
To keep the back teeth always small and aligned it is very important that we eat a lot of hay and grass, as I said here, fresh grass also has elements that help a lot in the wear of the teeth, because it is the hay or the hay that will make them wear out and stay good. If we do n’t eat hay they’ll start to grow and problems will start, for example they can start to grow and create what’s usually called spicules or spikes, which when growing out will start making ulcers on the bunny’s cheek and making wounds , if they grow to the inside can create bridges that hold the tongue underneath and causing a lot of pain.
In these situations the Veterinarian has to sedate the bunny and trim the teeth until they are all straight and aligned again
Here I leave a picture of how our back teeth are all aligned and straight, here are some teeth that chew a lot of hay and good grass.
Photography - Odontovet
And here I show some teeth already with some problems, below the Spicules are already so big that they hold the rabbit's tongue and if they continued like that they would make a bridge completely holding the tongue, and above, we also see a very big tooth there.
Photography - RPExoticos
But it's not just the back teeth that are always growing and causing problems, the front teeth are also always growing and causing problems, the truth is that as humans can usually see these little teeth, if there is a problem they can detect and go to the vet right away, but even so unfortunately there are still many bunnies that have these very big teeth.
These teeth and contrary to what a lot of people say do n't wear out with hay or grass, we use these little teeth to gnaw and cut things, so to wear out these teeth that sometimes make us itchy and that we try to calm down by gnawing on the furniture there from wooden toys , boards or even sticks (wood can be apple, pear, birch, willow , etc. without paints or toxic products (but with caution, or we'll eat too much and create packing ) or pinecones que also help (but you have to prepare it first).
If we don't wear out our teeth they will start to grow and they can grow outwards , ending up hurting the nose or chin or growing inwards, hurting the whole mouth.
The front teeth are the that normally can cause problems due to congenital issues (if you want to see more here about Dental Malocclusion), that is, we gnaw an apple tree trunk every day they they will always grow too big and crooked, because it is a birth malformation and in this case there is nothing to be done, that is, in all cases, what is done is to thin the teeth until they are the right size, in more critical cases it usually The teeth can be extracted , so that the bunny doesn't have to be sedated and subjected to this treatment, but don't worry, we can live well without these teeth.
Here I leave a photo where you can see some very big teeth. These grew outward and hurt the bunny's nose and upper lip.
Photography - RPExoticos
Here you can see how the teeth look after wear, small and straight, now it is growing and giving many things to chew.
Photography - Vetexotics
And here? Can you see where the teeth grew on this XR?
Photography - RPExoticos
Our teeth are really a great adventure because in addition to what I have already said here there is also the problem of them growing inwards, what does this mean ? for example our back teeth can start to grow into the jawbone or mandible, and in some cases they can even reach the bottom of our head forming abscesses and this can happen for many reasons, lack of calcium (when they decide to remove all the vegetables that have calcium in our diet), lack of phosphorus, vitamin D deficiency (that is, lack of sun), all this can make our jaw lose consistency making it easy for the tooth to start growing.
The front teeth, on the other hand, when they start to grow inward, can cause eye discharge, that is, we cry a lot from the eye, or we can also create abscesses such as the back teeth, drool a lot or as veterinarians like to say Sialorrhea , which then causes dermatitis and other problems or until we are with facial paralysis .
Be very careful , don't forget to have a good diet, lots of hay and grass and if you suspect, go to the vet, we can die because of the teeth, don't forget that.
