Case Story: Dexter – A 2-year-old male domestic shorthair.
Dexter, a 2-year-old neutered male domestic shorthair, came to see us for a booster recently.
Upon examination, even though he had nice teeth, we noticed some subtle changes in the gums around his first lower premolars on both sides of the lower mandible.
These changes were suspicious of FORLs (Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions), a syndrome where the tooth is destroyed by its own cells.
FORLs is the second most common type of dental disease in cats and often goes unnoticed. Dexter only presented with some redness and inflammation at the gum line (see photo).
Prompt investigation with dental x-rays revealed the full extent of the problem. Both teeth suffered from advanced FORLs to the extreme where the roots of both teeth had completely resorbed and weren’t visible anymore. Thanks to our dental x-rays we were able to assess the situation and realise that attempting to remove the roots would have been unnecessary trauma, and so only a crown amputation was needed, reducing the anaesthetic time and the trauma to Dexter’s mouth.
Dexter recovered nicely from his procedure and his mouth looked completely healed 10 days later at his post operative examination.
