# Lost tooth



## djfiggy (Dec 20, 2008)

When I cleaned Oona's cage I found what was very clearly a tooth. It looked like it was a chewer, some sort of molar. It wasn't cracked as I could identify the root; it looked intact other than that she lost it. This is a first. I did have a look at the dental care page, and I wonder if it necessarily if it's possible for it to be tooth decay over time, especially since she's never "brushed"?

I currently feed her dry Innova blended with dry Spike's Delite. She drinks water from a bottle.

She also fits the profile of nearing two years of age. Her birthday's next month, actually.


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## djfiggy (Dec 20, 2008)

Come to think of it I would say this is lost tooth #2, but the first was quite a while back. And I should probably mention her appetite seems to be bigger these days, compared even to how it had improved after her surgery earlier this year.


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## Mika (Dec 4, 2008)

How old is your hedgie?


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## djfiggy (Dec 20, 2008)

Oona's coming up on two years, this May.


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## Mika (Dec 4, 2008)

Can you check in her mouth to see how are the other teeth??


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## djfiggy (Dec 20, 2008)

I can try. I've never had success with that before. However, if I can trim her claws, I'm sure there's some way I can do it. Maybe putting some good taste on the end of a tongue depressor or something.

She continues having no trouble eating food and behaving the same as usual.


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## Mika (Dec 4, 2008)

It's important to know that she doesn't have a teeth or gum problem because with the time she could loose all her teeth or have bigger problem as a tumor.

I would suggest to go see a vet!


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## djfiggy (Dec 20, 2008)

She's heading for the vet pretty soon, I made the appointment. In the meantime, her appetite slid for a bit but has rebounded since.


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

I got my hedgehog At the very end of December (right before new years) and he is over two years old (that's as close as I can be as all the store knew was they had him for over two years). 

After he was socialized and unballing for me I realized that he was missing some teeth. I have since seen him yawn many times and he is missing almost all his teeth. He somehow has no problems eating, his gums do not look infected or bleeding, they are a very healthy pink colour. 

I have no idea how or when he lost his teeth as the people at the store never handled him or provided proper care. 

I agree that it is unusual and probably denotes some underlying health problem but know from experience that a hedgehog can be happy and healthy without many teeth.


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## djfiggy (Dec 20, 2008)

I would have liked to catch her yawning, instead my only view comes with her licking her nose or whatever she's occasionally trying to get with her tongue. That just tells me the gums are some shade of pink and her front teeth (incisors?) appear fine top to bottom because the tongue obstructs any view I might have of the back teeth. Hopefully the vet will have something more conclusive to tell me.


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

Would you mind letting me know what the vet said? I would be interested to learn more about this.


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## djfiggy (Dec 20, 2008)

She's back home. No sign of cancer at this time. No sign of infection, abscess, or issue with what appears to be a closed up spot where a gaping hole no doubt used to be. She got an injection of antibiotics just in case, but it may not have been necessary.

Trivia: While she was there they cleaned her dirty ears and trimmed her claws further than I had trimmed them a few days ago. While I was temporarily reduced to one working hand after surgery and then away in Europe, my father took care of Oona, but I didn't count on him to trim any claws, something I normally would do. I'm wondering if they got long enough that she would accidentally cause that kind of damage while trying to get at a stuck chunk of food or something, and I am otherwise checking her cage for Safety Fail. If it was the claws, then it's known how to avoid this problem in the future. If it's in the cage, I'd better find it.

The tooth itself was a molar, as I suspected. There wasn't any sign it left any of the root, but it looked like a whole tooth when I found it. There was puzzlement about how a molar would get ripped out like that.

She does have gingivitis. While being given no clue what I could do about that, I was simply told it "could" be a problem in the future.

Otherwise, it was just the one tooth; maybe I'm remembering the part about other teeth wrong or maybe those were milk teeth or something. She still has all her other teeth, and they don't appear to be in immediate jeopardy.

The pain from losing the tooth, and from the wound that took time to close, may account for the appetite that dropped alarmingly and then gradually came back; it might have hurt to eat solid food.


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

What you said about the appetite loss makes sense. I know that when I got my wisdom teeth out I couldn't eat anything solid for weeks. 

Thanks for keeping me updated about this. It's weird that they don't have a guess as to what caused the tooth to come out. 

I'm planning on taking Quigley to the vet as soon as I have the money (unfortunately we've had some unforeseen financial difficulties). 
My cat is also inexplicably loosing her teeth right now but she lives with my parents so it's not my place to take her to the vet (they would get mad at me if I did).


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