[Gpdd] Health: Dental Problems (re: Candy's note)

[Joanne Gosnell]

Candy

That was a great piece you wrote regarding piggy dental problems.

I had the experience of what was believed to be "growing roots" in the jaw
of Queensie whom we helped to the bridge in January.  I had not noticed it
until I saw a small opening under her chin in the jaw area, and it was
bleeding a little bit.  Having read that cysts and the like are common in
piggies, I thought that's what it was and took her to our specialist vet.
He checked her out and said her back teeth were overgrown, and he suspected
the problem was overgrown roots into her jaw.  She was 7 years old, and I
wasn't willing to put her through any kind of extensive surgery.  We had her
on antibiotics for a while, and her jaw kept getting larger on the one side,
but she kept eating and we syringed her critical care as well.  But soon it
became clear she was becoming uncomfortable.  We gave her a small amount of
ibuprofen daily for about a week (thanks again to some great advice from
some great folks on this list) while waiting to see the vet for her final
visit.  That was really rough all around.

In her case, she had never had any kind of teeth problems in her 7 years. So
I think these kinds of things can happen with age if not when they were
younger.

Thanks again for sharing all your findings.  It makes us all the wiser.

Joanne