Sessions

Feline Tooth Resorption (TR), formerly known as Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesion (FORL), is an extremely common clinical condition. As the disease progresses, the body's own cells gradually break down the hard tissues of the teeth, causing severe pain in advanced stages. While this disease is widespread in domestic cats, there is limited information on its prevalence in other felid species (Felidae).

Our research aims to investigate the involvement of other felid species and understand the complex background of this condition. Our study began with 64 wildcat (domestic wild form), 24 leopard, 23 lion, 15 tiger, 11 serval, 9 lynx, 6 jungle cat, 5 cougar (puma), 4 jaguar, 4 cheetah, 4 ocelot, 3 caracal, 2 snow leopard, 2 leopard cat, 2 Bornean cat, and 1 oncilla skull, which are part of the Mammal Collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum and span 200 years (1822-2023). We conducted a detailed macroscopic examination of the skulls to identify visible signs of tooth resorption, and photographic documentation was created in every case. Skulls with a suspicion of TR/FORL were further examined using different imaging techniques. We performed imaging by helical CT (General Electric Revolution ACT), direct digital X-ray (Toshiba E7239, with a Control-X detector), dental X-ray (IM3 Revolution 4DC) at the Department of Surgery, University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, and CBCT (Epica Vimago GT 30 Pico) at the Exo-Pet Veterinary Center. This multimodal approach allowed us to diagnose accurately sub-surface lesions and compare the diagnostic value of macroscopic examination with the various imaging procedures.

Our results contribute new data to the scientific literature. We identified signs of tooth resorption in the dentition of 6 tigers, 6 leopards, 4 lynx, 2 lions, 2 jaguars, 2 pumas, 1 cheetah, 1 ocelot, 1 leopard cat, 1 jungle cat, and 1 wildcat among the species studied. We are the first to confirm the occurrence of TR/FORL in endangered species living in the wild and in zoos, such as the tiger, cheetah, Eurasian (ssp. carpathica) lynx, ocelot, leopard cat, jungle cat, and wildcat. The dental lesions in wild felids and domestic cats appear identical, suggesting that the underlying factors are also the same and are not of a civilization-related origin. Our future planned research aims to investigate these specific underlying causes.