OCRA CRUS Artemis showing us her beautiful teeth. If you look closely you can see her molars as well.
Part of our weekly health check includes a quick look at our rats' teeth. This is such an important part of their health that is often overlooked. Granted to have teeth that grow so quickly they can't get cavities is great but what happens when they have malocclusion? Considering their teeth can grow over an inch in one month it is so important to make sure they are not misaligned and growing at different rates. There are some terrifying images on the internet of poor rats that have their teeth growing through the roof of their mouth or their jaw. This can cause terrible abscesses and pain for the rat. Here is a great example on Ratguide.com a tooth causing abscess. The younger rat starts to grow it's beautiful pearly white teeth at about day 9, after about 21 days, they start to show the yellowing from the iron rich pigment on their outer enamel. **If your older rat loses this pigment and start to look pale/white, they could have a vitamin A or E deficiency. It should be a healthy yellow-orange color in adult rats like Artemis above (with her yawning, you can see her three back molars as well.)
We have one of our old men, Joey of OCRA (27 months old) needing a little TLC in the tooth department. For about a month I have been trimming a sharp point he keeps missing in his natural bruxing and gnawing. The tooth appears to be growing even faster now that we have had to trim it weekly. Such a sharp point. Since this jutting point was in the back of his tooth, if I was not looking CLOSELY in his mouth, it could have been too late, causing some terrible pain/damage. I am very thankful he will let me mess in his mouth. Often the vet will need to sedate the rat to trim it. (The tooth can also shatter if you are not careful so please do not take on tooth trimming without learning from an experienced person.)
I have included some great links for further reading on the tooth.
We have one of our old men, Joey of OCRA (27 months old) needing a little TLC in the tooth department. For about a month I have been trimming a sharp point he keeps missing in his natural bruxing and gnawing. The tooth appears to be growing even faster now that we have had to trim it weekly. Such a sharp point. Since this jutting point was in the back of his tooth, if I was not looking CLOSELY in his mouth, it could have been too late, causing some terrible pain/damage. I am very thankful he will let me mess in his mouth. Often the vet will need to sedate the rat to trim it. (The tooth can also shatter if you are not careful so please do not take on tooth trimming without learning from an experienced person.)
I have included some great links for further reading on the tooth.
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