Tucker is a 1 year old guy who lives strictly indoors. He is here to tell you that even indoor cats can get into mischief. His owners came home from work one day to find that he had fractured his two upper canine teeth to expose the root canals and that he could not close his mouth. His owners took him to an emergency hospital where he was placed on pain medication and a recommendation was made to follow up with either a boarded veterinary dentist or a general practitioner with experience in radiographing and extracting canine teeth. So, Tucker and his owners found their way to Dr. Reilly. Upon exam, Dr. Reilly discovered that the mandible (lower jaw) was not in alignment. This can be caused by dislocation of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) or fracture of the mandible. Dr. Reilly sedated Tucker to obtain radiographs of his skull. The radiographs showed that the mandible was intact and the right TMJ was dislocated! Tucker returned the following day for anesthesia, a full oral exam, and full mouth intraoral (dental) radiographs. Dr. Reilly surgically extracted the fractured upper canine teeth. She then placed an esophageal feeding tube since Tucker’s mouth would need to be taped closed for his TMJ to heal. Finally, she put his TMJ back in place. Tucker was recovered from anesthesia and placed on additional pain medication. His owners were taught how to use his feeding tube and he went home that night! After three days, the muzzle tape and feeding tube were both removed and Tucker was so happy to be able to open his mouth!!! Tucker made a full recovery, but is definitely keeping silent as to how an indoor cat knocked out his teeth and dislocated his jaw!
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 22:14:03 +0000
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