Rabbit Tooth Injury

Question
I have a one-year-old Holland Lop rabbit that received a slight tooth injury. About a week ago, I was getting ready to put my rabbit back in his cage and he jumped out of my arms and hit his mouth on the metal bars of his cage. He licked his teeth for several seconds and then entered his cage as if nothing had happened. He continued to eat, drink, and behave normally. Today, I noticed that his teeth were unusually sharp. So, I looked at his teeth and discovered that the top two teeth were bent slightly inwards and slightly unattached from the visible part of his gum, but still aligned with the bottom teeth and still solidly attached to his gum. I would prefer not having to take my rabbit to the vet, but if necessary I certainly will. Do you have any advice for me?

Answer
Dear Becca

If the teeth are at all wiggling, he may have broken them below the gumline.  The best course of action would be to have the broken parts of the teeth gently removed by an experienced rabbit vet:

http://www.rabbit.org/vets

who can then file the lower incisors down a bit so the uppers and lowers can re-grow with normal occlusion, and the bunny will not develop molar problems because the incisors are not meeting correctly, even for a while.

I think it's very important to have this done, as any initiation of malocclusion of the molars could become permanent, and foster more problems.  Be sure you have a vet who is experienced with rabbit dental work.

I hope this helps.

Dana