Information on Root Elongation

On December 11th, after 5 long weeks of treatment for a URI, fluid on her lungs, numerous tests and 5 different vets, I found out that my beautiful Gadget had root elongation. What started out as a barely noticeable, early caught URI, progressed very quickly to her gasping to breathe because of her roots. Had I had even a clue what was causing the issues, I would not have put her through all that and I am just guilt ridden. I feel like I should have known and put her through pain for nothing. I caused her pain trying to help her when I should have known better. She was such a good baby through it all. It never even occurred to me that it was a possibility until her lungs were finally clear but her breathing just got worse. Her breathing became almost normal while on the Prednisone (to get the fluid off of her lungs) but the vet said that was because it reduced the inflammation so she could breathe better but when it was stopped, within 4 days, it was horrible. The 5th and final vet is a godsend. The only good thing to come out of this, is that I have found an awesome exotic vet for my girls. My concern now is I have her full sister (2 1/2) and 2 half sisters (just turned 4) and I am scared to death. Recently I have been told that root elongation is not considered MALO if the teeth are not involved. Is this true? What causes root elongation then? Her teeth were fine. No points. No spurs. No misalignment. I have had her and her sisters since they are a few months old (from a breeder) and they have always had quality pellets, unlimited hay and wood to chew. Some would say, I spoil them terribly. My question is...did I do something wrong? Is there something I can do differently to help give her sisters a better fighting chance? Gadget was only 2 1/2. Just a baby. She was my heffalump weighing in at 850g at her highest weight. I always gave the girls the best but that was not enough to save Gadget from this fate. I used to love the fact that I had sisters. Now it terrifies me. Thank you in advance for any insight.

Elongation is not malocclusion, malocclusion in when the teeth are not in occlusion-meaning they are crooked. Elongation occurs when the teeth themselves overgrow and become too long in length and constant pressure is placed on the biting surfaces-meaning there is no point when the mouth is closed that the teeth do not touch-there needs to be slack for elongation to not happen. When constant pressure is applied, the teeth are signaled to reverse-now the "roots" grow-chin teeth are open rooted-there are no apices like human teeth have, so the other end of the teeth grow. According to a famous vet who has done numerous current studies on chin teeth most domestic chinchillas have some degree of elongation due to our domestic diet, when you have a chin who has a predisposition towards rapid tooth growth-I had one who had teeth that grew 6mm+ a week-normal is 1-3mm, add that to the cruddy domestic diet and you get elongation. It is silent until advanced. Even me, who had extensive knowledge on teeth and have dealt with teeth for almost 14 years had a elongation chin who slipped by me until his elongation on the lower molars broke his jaw-this was a 1100gm chin who showed no signs until that happened and was dead in 45 days. As long as chins are domesticated and on a domestic diet this can happen to anyone and there is nothing you did wrong besides owning a chinchilla I am sad to say.

So sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I've never heard of root elongation, and now I'm terrified of course. @ticklechin, you say "domestic diet"... I have mine strictly on Oxbow, both food and hay. Is there anything better?

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Domestic diet is just that, hay and pellets with junk food. In the wild chinchillas ate a very low protein and fat diet so to stay alive they had to eat a ton to get any nutritional value out of it-a study by the same vet showed elongation is practically non existent in wild chinchillas. Domestic chins eat 16-18% protein and 2-4% fat in the pellets, this fills them up pretty quick so they are not grinding their teeth down as they should, especially if the chin is a pellet hog and eats little hay. So if you have one with the faster growing teeth who is a pellet hog it becomes a issue over time.

Here is a skull of mine that shows elongation without malocclusion