Case Report
Treatment of malocclusion in squirrel
Mary Cummins
Squirrel Rescue
Los Angeles, CA
Subject: Four month old female Fox squirrel in Los Angeles, California
Introduction: A four month old fox squirrel was observed outside a residence with its lower incisors protruding out of its mouth. Subject was humanely trapped and brought in for treatment.
Chief problem: Squirrel could not eat or drink properly. Her incisors were not properly aligned because of malocclusion caused by a cleft palate.
Incisors were overgrown preventing her from chewing, swallowing or closing her mouth properly.
Medical and dental history: Squirrel appeared healthy and normal in all respects except for malocclusion and a cleft palate. She was small for her age, undernourished and slightly dehydrated upon admittance for treatment because she was not able to eat or drink sufficiently.
Diagnosis: Subject had a cleft palate which caused malocclusion, i.e. improper occlusion; especially : abnormality in the coming together of teeth. Her teeth continued to grow as they were not properly aligned
as she could not grind them down through normal wear. Her top jaw was deformed by the cleft palate causing a more acute angle of dental growth. Her top teeth grew almost parallel with the roof of her mouth down her throat. Her lower teeth grew normally but as they could never contact her top teeth, she could not grind them down enough to keep pace with the constant
growth found in rodent incisors. There was also a two mm hole from her oral cavity to her nasal cavity. Food had gotten trapped in this cavity causing an infection. Exhibit
1 below shows subject before being trimmed. Notice that the upper teeth go behind
the lower teeth instead of in front of them as in the normal skull photo
above. Notice also the
dark cavity above her upper teeth. This hole goes to her nasal cavity.
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Treatment plan: Incisors would be trimmed and filed biweekly as needed. If
squirrel was still unable to grind down her teeth on her own, incisors would
be removed.
Treatment progress:
June 2001: Squirrel was taken to nearby Wilshire Animal Hospital, put under
anesthesia and a dremmel drill was used to file down her teeth to the proper
length. Antibiotics were prescribed to combat the infection.
June-August 2001: Squirrels incisors continued to grow though she was able to
grind down her lower incisors a small amount. Biweekly anesthesia and dremmel
filing was not advised for long term treatment due to negative long term
effects on internal organs. Follow up biweekly dental trimming was done with
professional grade straight edge extra sharp human toe nail nippers. Teeth
were trimmed at the proper angle and filed with a heavy gauge metal human nail
file. Care was also taken to remove food from the oral nasal cavity caused by
the cleft palate. Squirrel was able to eat and drink properly, put on much
needed weight and continued to develop normally in all other respects.
Squirrel would never be releasable if dependent upon human dental trimming
every two weeks. Alternative treatments and euthanasia were considered.
Malocclusion is also evident in rats and rabbits. The removal of the affected
incisors is the normal treatment. There have been some cases where removal of
only the deformed incisors was successful.
August 2001: The top deformed incisors were removed by Dr. Ridgeway under
anesthesia. Subject was alert and active immediately after surgery, eating,
drinking and playing. There was only slight swelling and no post operative
bleeding. Subject was able to grind down her lower incisors but not enough to
keep up with the continued growth.
October 2001. The lower incisors were removed by Dr. Ridgeway under
anesthesia. Subject was alert and active immediately after surgery, eating,
drinking and playing. There was slightly more swelling than the previous
surgery. There was no post operative bleeding. Subject instantly ate soft
foods such as avocado and apple. Seeds and nuts were not given until two weeks
after surgery as per Dr.'s orders. Dr. noted during surgery that oral nasal cavity had almost
fused completely as subjects skull has grown.
November 2001: Subject can eat shelled nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables as
her molars are perfectly normal and aligned. Squirrel can shell peanuts and
get into whole avocados and oranges with her claws. Dr. Ridgeway instructed
caretaker to wait two months to release her to make sure that no root cells
were accidentally left behind which could cause new teeth to grow.
February 2002: Subject is released to same backyard where found and currently
lives in the tree where she was born in the yard. Subject is seen every few
days eating figs, avocados and oranges off the tree. Subject also eats seeds
and nuts out of the bird feeder. She is full sized and appears healthy.
February 2003: Subject still visits backyard where she was found. Her
teeth have not re-grown. She is still healthy and has sustained no injuries.
Results: Treatment goals were met.
Comment: This treatment is not prescribed for all squirrels with malocclusion.
It is merely a possible treatment for malocclusion in squirrels. It would only
be suggested for a permanent resident squirrel used for educational purposes.
Incisor removal is less stressful on the squirrel than biweekly manual
trimming or dremmel filing with anesthesia. Manual and dremmel filing can
cause stress fractures, infections and stress in the squirrel. Biweekly
anesthesia is also not recommended due to negative long term effects on
internal organs.
References:
1. Dr. Susan Brown."When teeth turn to tusks."
http://www.nerdcities.com/islandgems/malocclusion.html
2. Dr. David A. Crossley. EVDS Forum 1993 no.4
"Extraction of rabbit incisor teeth! Suggested protocol for the
management of rabbit and rodent incisor tooth problems."
http://www.vetdent-eu.demon.co.uk/evds/-forum/1993-.html
3. Dr. Dana Krempels. "Dental problems in domestic rabbits."
http://fig.cox.miami.edu/Faculty/Dana/dental.html
4. Dr. Jack Landess. "Boo Boo gets his teeth
trimmed." Boo Boo Squirrel World. http://www.boobooinc.com/sq/trimteeth.html
http://www.boobooinc.com/sq/bootooteeth.html
4. Dr. William Ridgeway. "Malocclusion in rabbits."
http://www.lbah.com/Rabbits/malocclusion.htm
5. Dr. Janet Tast. "The Tooth Fairy: Dental problems in
rabbits."
http://www.mahouserabbit.org/newsletter/tooth.shtml
Address for correspondence:
Author
Mary Cummins
Squirrel Rescue
Los Angeles, CA 90048
email: MMMARYinLA@aol.com
Dr. William Ridgeway
Long Beach Animal Hospital
http://www.lbah.com
Long Beach, CA
Many thanks to Dr. Ridgeway for his wonderful and loving work with all animals.