Stress causing chewing and tooth elongation?

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ticklechin

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
8,087
Location
modesto CA
After my usual cruise on the net reading articles on rodent teeth at the end of the day, I came across two that were interesting, my vet years ago thought one of mine would benefit from prozac for depression, wonder if a anti anxiety drug would benefit some chins.


Conclusion
In summary, we provided additional evidence to support the
concept that fur-chewing is a stress related behavior in the chinchilla,
and that a female sex bias exists in the expression of this behavior.
Which behaviors and/or housing conditions are restricted to captive
chinchillas is a key issue that should be fully addressed in future
studies, as this may have a direct impact in breeding management,
housing and animal welfare of captive chinchillas.


Conclusion
As elodont teeth are being formed throughout life anything (metabolic disease, teratogens,
vitamin or mineral imbalances, natural and unnatural forces, trauma, inflammation and infection)
affecting histodifferentiation, growth, maturation, matrix secretion or mineralisation will have the
potential to cause of developmental dental disease at any age, whereas teeth of limited growth are
minimally affected after their roots are formed. Lack of tooth wear is a major problem in domestic
herbivores that are fed concentrate rations. In the case of those with continuously growing teeth this
rapidly results in coronal elongation, increased occlusal contact and prolonged occlusal pressure
with obstruction of eruption and knock-on consequences at the growing tooth apex. Apical changes
affect the formation of tooth tissue leading to various forms of dysplasia varying from altered tooth
curvature to gross disruption of tissue morphology. Clinically there are many complicating cofactors
in the etiology of dental disease in elodont species.

Herbivores are prey species and as such
they are extremely susceptible to stress. Stress with resultant high serum cortisol levels appears to
be a major factor influencing the rate of progression of disease
.

Nutritional imbalance, if severe,
can cause dental changes, whilst a lesser degree of imbalance or deficiency has a similar effect to
stress in increasing the rate of progression of changes caused by physical factors.
A combination of more natural diet and environmental conditions would appear to be the
most practical measures for reducing the incidence of dental disease in elodont herbivores.







http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22504323

http://vetdent.eu/cpd/cpddownloads/notes-elodontpathophysiology.pdf
 
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