Malocclusion, filings, surgery etc

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LemonSqueezi

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
119
Location
Southern/Central New Jersey
I am just curious if anyone has had any real success treating malocclusion by filing down spurs monthly and trimming front teeth. Also I would like opinions if you even consider this humane or not.
Right now we are waiting to hear back from the specialist to see what he wants to do and or suggests. This poor girl has the whitest teeth ( possibly not able to adsorb calcium?) They are in very bad shape, bottom obviously too long and broken off, Top looking crackly, Her entire jaw sits wrong and is hard to the touch almost like locked in place ( possible break? she was house with a rabbit and an extremely obnoxious kid), she keeps her mouth open even though the teeth aren't hitting the top of her jaw line. We haven't even been able to get to look at the back yet or get her in for x rays ( which we are waiting to hear back from the vet to see if he even wants to since there are such obvious problems or if he suggests euthanasia)
She has 2 obvious bumps about the size of half tic tacs on her left jaw protruding out the side when you feel it, nothing on the right side. I don't even want to know if I want to see what x rays will show. Her eyes are extremely watery and tear stained everywhere. She has a drool beard and she also as a URI. The URI and the pain combined is making it near impossible feeding her CC even on pain meds. Her poos are way too small. Like granules of sea salt now.
We do not want to force it cause of the pain but not want her gut to shut down either. We just got her in last night, The vet was out of office and we are waiting for a call back. He is supposed to be in today. We are considering just putting her down to end her suffering if we don't hear back from him with in a few hours. She is just a mess and miserable.
 
that is just so sad. my chin has malo although if you look at his teeth they look good but he has root issues, so he is on all kinds of pain meds and i have been handfeeding him for almost 2 months. his time is very limited so i am trying to make the best of it. he is not at the level that your chin is, in terms of very teary eyes & drool beard but if he was at that level i would have to put him down. i was honestly hoping for him to go on his own terms but if that doesnt happen and i notice his pain is increased and his weight is decreased than unfortunatly he will be put down. one of THE hardest decisions i ever had to make.
 
LemonSqueezi... I have considered the same question very seriously when one of my girls had a teeth problem, but she was no where nearly as bad as yours. Your girl seems to be in a very bad shape. Sorry to say this, but you should consider putting her to rest to stop the suffering. :(
 
I am sorry to say but I think the only fair thing to do for that chin is to down her down - She probably also has gasric problems too because she can't eat - that is VERY painful also. She shouldn't be in such pain (no person/animal should) - Please let her go to the Rainbow Bridge
 
I am sorry too. What a tough little chin you have there, but I think the most humane thing to do for her is to put her down, she is in serious pain right now.
 
Oh no. Please make no mistake this is not my pet. If it was she would have never gotten
this way. I would have had this taken care of or her put down a long time ago. She is a rescue that we just took in last night. Please be aware we will not let her suffer. She is on pain meds while we are waiting to here back from the vet. We are just debating amongst ourselves if we should even spend the rescues money on x rays when the problem is obvious and extremely bad with out even having x rays or go ahead and just end her suffering now and not even consider the surgeries if its even at all possible.
She is not even in my custody, she is with the head of the rescue.
 
Even if her mouth could be fixed, and it's obvious she's in really bad shape, I am not a huge fan of constantly anesthetizing and filing a chin's teeth. They can go off feed for weeks or even months. They are in pain every time they come home from the vet. It's never going to be cured, just barely managed. I know some people feel compelled to keep on trying, but who are they really trying for? The chin or themselves? I don't see that having to constantly go to the vet, be put under anesthesia, having your teeth filed, being force fed against your will, sucking down pain meds is in the best interest of the chin. That's the human being unable to accept what's going on.

If you had a chin with surface malo, you could file the teeth once a year, the chin maintained weight without weird, unhealthy, kitchen sink type diets, force feedings for extended periods of time, etc., then that might be one thing. But I know people who have taken their chins in every 2 months to have it done, and to me, that's just wrong.

That's my opinion on malo. Regardless of being a breeder, I am a pet owner first and always have been. I just wouldn't put a chin through that indefinitely.

That's not even taking into account her other health issues. Truly, the kindest thing you could do for this poor little girl is to end her suffering with some semblance of dignity. Love her before you take her in, then hold her as she passes. Let her know that at least you cared, even if her previous owners did not.

ETA: Just in case this should come up, my thoughts on malo have nothing to do with money. I've spent a small fortune on critical care in the past year, and I'm pretty sure that new Porche in my vets parking space is as a direct result of my visits. Ugh.
 
Where ins south jersey is there a rescue...............just out of curiosity? I live in Jersey and have some stuff I can donate and sometimes I buy food in bulk and would love to have somewhere to donate it to.
 
She sounds like she is too far advanced to treat with any sort of success or quality of life, I hate to say the kind thing to do is PTS, poor chin.
 
Just an update*

The vet decided that the malo in this girl was maybe both genetic and a lot of environmental. It was something that could have been treated easily for a while but since she was neglected it became extremely severe. We don't know how much hay if any she had , how much sugar etc. Her teeth were very bad. She had one molar growing out towards her cheek and the other was growing forward. She also had a few actually missing in back which he thinks is from poor diet. Her front teeth had a lot of decay and were very weak and breaking off.
We knew we didn't have the money as a rescue to do a surgery that might not work and then to try something else and possibly keep her in pain, when we have others in need to consider as well as her quality of life, but we were very upset because we knew she had a lot of life left in her. She just didn't look like it was her time. In the end we decided that if the x rays showed root issues she would be put down, and if her teeth weren't that bad and could be filed once and perhaps lightly treated every so often then we would give it a try as long as she wasn't in constant pain.
Since her teeth were bad themselves he wasn't sure if after a filing it would even work.
Before we even got x rays done we talked to him and he decided to take on this girl himself. He was going to take x rays ( so we didn't have to pay for it) put her under and do some dental work. He will also treat her with the things needed to get her teeth back in health, pain meds and hand feeding along with his awesome assistant. If she isn't responding well to it and is just miserable ( trust me he has the biggest heart and won't let her suffer) he will put her down and if she is then he will go from there. In the end if it turns out to be from diet alone and she can make a good turn around she'll come back to us as long as we all agree her quality of life is good.
So as of right now she is in his hands ( which we trust very much) Everyone please wish her luck and we will keep you updated :)
 
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