Abstract
Focal palatine erosion (FPE) is a misleading term that is used in the literature to describe inflammatory lesions associated with depressions of the palatal mucosa in cheetah. Cheetahs have large cheek teeth and these depressions are formed to accommodate them. Previously FPE was only described as a mandibular molar tooth malocclusion on the hard palate due to suspected rotation and super eruption of the mandibular molar teeth of cheetahs aged 18 months and older. Two hundred and fifty six cheetahs (135 male, 121 female), originating from two independent facilities, had their oral cavities evaluated as part of an annual health visit over a decade. Ninety-nine cheetahs were seen once, 59 cheetahs were seen twice, 33 were seen three times, 43 on four occasions, 16 on five occasions, 5 on six occasions, and 1 cheetah was seen seven times. Apart from these clinical cases a prospective study on 5 cheetah cubs (3 male and 2 female) was conducted to document their skull development and mandibular molar tooth eruption over a period of 25 months. Of the 261 cheetahs observed none developed rotation or super eruption of their mandibular molar teeth. The term FPE is a misnomer as these inflammatory lesions were found in palatal depressions opposing any of the cusps of all of the cheetah mandibular cheek teeth. It consisted mainly of deep ulcerations, inflammation and oedema and also micro abscess formation. In severe cases oro-nasal fistulas were present. Of all the depressions present on the cheetah's palate, the large one palatal to the 4th maxillary premolar tooth was most commonly affected. In the five cubs evaluated prospectively, focal palatitis was evident from the 7 month evaluation, before all the permanent teeth erupted. Conservative treatment of the inflamed depressions by removing the foreign material through curettage and copious flushing reduced the grade of the inflammation when observed on follow-up. Focal palatine erosion is an incorrect term used to describe focal palatitis that occurs randomly in cheetahs. This focal palatitis is often associated with foreign material trapped in the palatal depressions. Conservative management is sufficient to treat these animals without odontoplasties.
Highlights
Focal palatine erosions (FPE) was first described in the cheetah in 1982 by Fitch and Fagan
Considering only the first visit, an analysis of the maximum likelihood estimates obtained with logistic regression together with the p-values of the Wald Chi-squared tests confirmed that the prevalence of focal palatitis (FP) was influenced by facility (p-value = 0.0233 < 0.05), sex (p-value = 0.0304 < 0.05) and age (p-value = 0.0004 < 0.01) of the cheetahs (Table 3)
Termed FPE, the results of that study proved most palatal depressions to be normal anatomical structures lined by squamous epithelium to accommodate the opposing mandibular tooth cusps
Summary
Focal palatine erosions (FPE) was first described in the cheetah in 1982 by Fitch and Fagan. FPE lesions were previously described to occur as a result of the mandibular molar tooth that maloccluded with the palate, penetrating the palatal tissues as a result, and leading to oronasal fistula formation [1]. The latter condition was evidenced clinically by “drooling” (ptyalism), “a runny nose,” “foul breath” (halitosis) and a “nasal discharge” [1, 4]. The malocclusion of the mandibular molar tooth and ensuing FPE was speculated to be the result of eating soft processed diets deficient of adequate structural composition (like bones) for optimal muscle stimulation. Treatment of FPE in captive animals relied on the reduction of the caudal cusp of the mandibular molar tooth to reduce tooth contact with the palate, and was expected to decrease the possibility of FPE development [1, 4]
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