Broken Tooth

[suga]

I noticed last night that Conker has a broken tooth. Her two top teeth are intact - although quite stumpy but one of her bottom teeth has broken off. She does have a stump on the broken tooth and its possibly half the length of her other bottom tooth.

I assume it will grow back, but that she will have uneven length teeth - is that going to cause her a problem? She is eating just fine and I weighed her last night and she hasn't lost any weight in the last 6 months. Is there anythiing in particular I can give her food wise to help strengthen her teeth?

I'm not sure when it got damaged I only noticed last night as she was grinning at me whilst hanging upside down. I did spend 20 mins or so trying to get a flick of the tooth to show you but she was outta control and thought that the camera was a huge joke and something to play with. (I did get other flicks of her which I am going to post later as they are too cute).

Any tooth advice would be appreciated.
thanks :-)

[souffle]

I've never had one with a broken tooth suga so I can only say what the book says in the uneven teeth can cause malocclusion the signs of which are dribbling, difficulty in eating and anorexia in some cases. It is usually due to a broken tooth and the teeth can be weakened due to lack of calcium in the diet. Uneven teeth should be clipped and dog biscuits which are rich in calcium and phosphorus should be given. Broken teeth can lead to further problems and infections and dental caries are common in hamsters.
Now that is what the book says. If Conker seems to be eating well and not losing weight the teeth may even out, Im not sure. Give plenty hard things to chew and get some calcium rich dog biscs and maybe some milky porridge as well would help with the calcium.
Hope she is OK or you might feel happier having them evened by the vet.

[racinghamster]

Hi Suga. I recently had to have one of my gerbils teeth snipped back by my vet because he lost a top tooth, which he done by chewing the bars of the hamster run he was in and he pinged his teeth to one side when he pulled away. This left his top teeth in a `V` shape and one fell out, leaving a long, jagged tooth behind.

He lost a lot of weight before I realised anything was wrong, so took him in and the vet clipped the jagged tooth right back and boy, has it made a difference to him! He`s gained back the weight he lost and is doing great.

Pop along to you vet and have the longer tooth trimmed back to the same lenght as the shorter one. It does`nt hurt them at all and only takes a few seconds to grip hammy while the vet snips the tooth away.

If it`s left to grow longer than the other one, it could cause problems with nibbling. x

[suga]

Souffle I think I have the same book :-)
I am going to ring the vet and see if they can give us an appointment to have a look at the other tooth. I don't want her struggling because of it and to be honest because she is still chewing on her bars - regardless of her tooth situation its probably best to get it seen to - so she doesn't ping the other one out and end up gummy. Will let you know how we go....
thanks

[suga]

Lovely vet lady had a look at the tooth this morning. She said that its actually only a little shorter than the other and that it shouldn't cause a problem to her eating. Just got to keep an eye on it and take her back if the situation changes. Vet lady looked at her for free - bonus :-))

[souffle]

That's good news Suga. Glad to hear you have a nice vet and that Conker needs no treatment

[Holly]

Good to hear it isn't too much of a problem

A broken tooth is my worse nightmare when Moxy starts doing his relentless roof bar chewing