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 Published: 03 Apr 2025 | Last Updated: 03 Apr 2025 12:00:01

A team of researchers within the VetCompass Programme at the Å·²©ÓÎÏ·µÇ¼ƽ̨ (Å·²©ÓÎÏ·µÇ¼ƽ̨) studying dental disease in rabbits under primary veterinary care have identified common clinical signs for rabbits experiencing dental disease and assessed veterinary diagnostic and treatment methods. The findings can be used to improve veterinary training on rabbit medicine to increase confidence when diagnosing and treating this disease and ultimately to enhance rabbit quality of life.

Dental disease is highly prevalent in companion rabbits across the UK. While recommended diagnostic and treatment methods are well-described in literature, the methods actually used in day-to-day veterinary care by primary-care veterinarians have not been well documented. Research suggests many veterinary surgeons have lower confidence in the assessment of pain, diagnosis, and treatment of rabbits than they do for cats and dogs. Therefore, benchmarking and detailing current veterinary diagnostic and treatment methods used may help identify possible opportunities for improvement and even allow inference on the welfare implications of veterinary interventions themselves.

The study, conducted by the Å·²©ÓÎÏ·µÇ¼ƽ̨, used a random sample of 2,219 cases of dental disease from a total study population of 161,979 rabbits. These cases diagnosed with dental disease were identified from anonymised electronic patient records within VetCompass, from rabbits attending UK primary veterinary care practices during 2019.

Data was extracted for each dental disease case from free-text clinical notes covering a variety of factors including: clinical signs related to dental disease (either reported by an owner or identified by a veterinarian); diagnostic methods for diagnosis of dental disease; tooth trimming or tooth extraction; recommendations for dietary modification in relation to the rabbit’s dental disease; referral for advanced clinical management for dental disease (including treatment within or outside of the original practice); and contribution of dental disease to death.

The main findings of the study included:

• Visual oral examination contributed to diagnosis in 2,168 rabbits (99.7% of the 2175 rabbits with diagnostic method recorded), radiography contributed to 49 (2.2%), and computed tomography (CT) scanning to seven (0.3%).
• Across the 754 rabbits (34.0%) that received tooth trimming, there were 244 (32.4%) incisor trimming events and 593 (78.6%) cheek teeth trimming events.
• Cheek teeth trimming was performed on conscious (non-sedated or non-anaesthetised) rabbits in 36 (6.1%) cases.
• Dietary modification for improvement of dental disease was recommended for 476 (21.5%) cases.
• The most frequently recorded clinical signs were reduced food intake (n=557, 25.1%), reduced faecal output (n=241, 10.9%) and ocular discharge (n=235, 10.6%), with 1,123 (50.6%) rabbits not having any clinical signs recorded.
• Of the 547 (24.7%) rabbits recorded to have died during the study period, 92 (16.8%) had dental disease reported as the primary cause of death and 188 (34.4%) had dental disease reported as a contributory factor of death.

These findings can now be used to inform improvements in initial veterinary training and professional development to boost veterinary confidence in diagnosing and treating this commonly seen disease.

Potential improvement opportunities include:

• Greater use of diagnostic imaging to assess sub-gingival tooth roots
• Always using chemical restraint during cheek tooth trimming to prevent iatrogenic injury, inadequate treatment, and stress to the rabbit
• Never using nail clippers to trim incisors
• Ensuring sufficient analgesia provision to encourage eating of fibrous food that will aid in prevention of dental disease, wearing teeth down during the early stages of dental disease, and will aid digestion to prevent any gastrointestinal co-morbidities
• Reminding owners of the importance of provision of hay (or grass) in the diet, and to never feed muesli or high sugar human foods, such as bread or breakfast cereals.

Maria Jackson, Research Assistant in Rabbit Health and Welfare, Veterinary Nurse, and Lead Author on the paper said: