Kitten with molars pushing into upper jaw.

RE: Kitten with molars pushing into upper jaw.

Claire Godfrey — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 19:22:55 GMT

Thank you.

I have spoken to the owners who have reported he has eaten really well with pain medication.

Our plan is to continue NSAIDs for a month and then if the teeth are still causing an issue extract them.

Lovely owners and not something I have come across before.

RE: Kitten with molars pushing into upper jaw.

Rachel Perry — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 12:34:14 GMT

I’d sit on this one longer if possible before extracting. Things change very quickly and he may be fussy because he’s being fussy, not because of oral pain. A NSAID trial may well be helpful for you.

RE: Kitten with molars pushing into upper jaw.

Claire Godfrey — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 13:28:00 GMT

Thank you that's great.

I will give the owners the options but I suspect they will go with extraction. I have put the kitten on some pain relief as they were hardly eating at all. If doing well we could leave longer. He would only eat gourmet trays and these gave him diarrhoea!

Thank you very much.

RE: Kitten with molars pushing into upper jaw.

Norman Johnston — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 12:40:51 GMT

Commonly there is a depression in the plalate from the lower carnassials but these do look worse than normal. They are likely to be permanent teeth although your images don’t show them.
It would be hard to argue to do nothing, although giving it a month might not be too bad. After that your options are surgical removal of the lower carnassials or odontoplasty and sealing to remove the damaging cusps.

The latter option sounds better but, personally, I’m not keen on it. To make enough of a difference a lot of cusp has to come off. In young animals with wide pulp chambers, exposure or very near exposure is a real possibility.

This means good rads pre/intra/post op, professional sealing of the dentin and monitoring the teeth regularly with rads to ensure normal maturation. If the owner won’t or can’t commit to these reviews the only option is extraction.

Others may have different views but the commitment to professional rechecks is so important in animals. Owners will happily say everything is fine when actually the pulp has died and periapical lesions are developing.