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I have a red tail boa that`s mouth is swollen all around a broken tooth. I found most of the tooth in his tank next to him. The tooth was black and broken off.I have put antibiotic ointment on the swelling,were the broken tooth remains twice a day for a week. It is not getting any better,the swelling is now affecting nostrils and breathing.I need some advice,from anyone who has come across this problem. Thanks

Do You have any access to Baytril? It's a strong antibiotic thats injectable. That would help a lot I bet. If your able to drain the puss any and rinse the wound with Hydrogen Peroxcide that should help with the swelling also but don't use too much and do your best not to let the boa ingest the H/P. Or you can always take it to the Vet and they can properly clean it and give you antibiotics and you can be sure to be done with it. Thats definitely the first thing you should do if your able too.
Goodluck and keep us posted.

Hydrogen peroxide causes minor tissue damage and will slow tissue regeneration. The damaged tissue should be removed with a swab and water rinse only. The topical antibiotic treatment is a good beginning treatment, but is apparently ineffective in this case. Additionally, when using any topical antibiotic ointment, be sure that it contains at least 5,000 units of polymyxin B, and preferably 10,000 units. The increased swelling and interference with breathing would indicate a progression into a deep tissue infection and systemic antibiotics will most likely be required. From your description, I would probably get this boa to a vet as soon as you can. If this penetrated quickly into a deep tissue infection, Baytril may or may not be effective, and it may possibly require a cephalosporin or aminoglycoside antibiotic. Please keep us posted on the progress. Just my thoughts on it.
Thanks,

Kelly

I always like Kelly's posts as they are 100% accurate, but the main point is, topical treatment hasn't worked you NEED a vet. Infections can spread to the jaw bone and cause something called osteomyelitis, which you really want to avoid.

www.arav.org/ECOMARAV/timssnet/amm/tnt_mdsearch.cfm

Have you ever seen or heard of Hydrogen peroxcide doing this? Well,I guess you've heard but from my own expierience and others,if used the right way H/P is a good Preventative if anything. I know of a few people that know what they're doing and have been doing this for a while,that have never had any issues. I'm asking,cause I really want to know not to stir crap up. Obviously,the best thing to do is take the boa to a vet. This just happened to me but thankfully I use to work for my Vet friend so he comes over when I have issues and takes care of buisness. Goodluck again!

Several studies have shown hydrogen peroxide to cause some minor tissue damage and it also appears to slow the healing process somewhat. Diluted Betadine and it’s generics or just plain water would be easier on the tissue than H2O2. See the excerpt below that I pulled from a medical site a few years ago for a more detailed explanation:
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Hydrogen peroxide is less used now as a debriding agent than in the past. When hydrogen peroxide is applied to a wound it combines with catalase produced in the tissues and decomposes into oxygen and water, producing effervescence (Potter and Perry, 1993). The rationale was that this helps to loosen materials that might hinder wound recovery and enables them to be washed off more readily. Six-percent w/v hydrogen peroxide (known as ' 20 volume' solution) liberates twenty times its own volume of oxygen upon decomposition (Thomas, 1990a), and is generally diluted 1 in 3 for the irrigation of wounds. The release of oxygen also kills some anaerobic bacteria such as the tetanus bacillus or Escherichia coli that might otherwise infect the wound. This anti-microbial action of hydrogen peroxide can be amplified 100-fold by the addition of L-cysteine (Berglin et al, 1982).

The problem with hydrogen peroxide and some other traditional debriding agents is that they also damage the healthy cells (keratinocytes and fibroblasts) that are needed for wound healing and inhibit their necessary migration into the damaged area (Tatnall, Leigh, and Gibson, 1990; Tatnall, Leigh, and Gibson, 1991; O'Toole, Goel, and Woodley, 1996). In current practice the emphasis has moved away from the use of cytotoxic materials to those which promote the healing process. In the British National Formulary (1996) hydrogen peroxide is now listed under "Astringents, oxidisers and dyes", and not as a desloughing agent.

References

Berglin, E.H., Edlund, M.B., Nyberg, G.K., and Carlsson, J. (1982) Potentiation by L-cysteine of the bactericidal effect of hydrogen peroxide in Escherichia coli. Journal of Bacteriology, 152(1), 81-88 (Oct).

British National Formulary (1996) 13.11.6 Astringents, oxidisers, and dyes: hydrogen peroxide. Joint publication of the British Medical Association and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (p. 492).

Higgins, K.R., and Ashry, H.R. (1995) Wound dressings and topical agents. Clin Podiatr Med Surg, 12(1), 31-40 (Jan).

O'Toole, E.A., Goel, M., and Woodley, D.T. (1996) Hydrogen peroxide inhibits human keratinocyte migration. Dermatol Surg, 22(6), 525-529 (Jun).

Potter, P.A. and Perry, A.G. (1993) Fundamentals of nursing: concepts, process & practice (3rd edition). St. Louis: Mosby-Year Book, Inc (p. 1666).

Tatnall, F.M., Leigh, I.M., and Gibson, J.R. (1990) Comparative study of antiseptic toxicity on basal keratinocytes, transformed human keratinocytes and fibroblasts. Skin Pharmacology, 3(3), 157-163.

Tatnall, F.M., Leigh, I.M., and Gibson, J.R. (1991) Assay of antiseptic agents in cell culture: conditions affecting cytotoxicity. Journal of Hospital Infections, 17(4), 287-296 (Apr).

Thomas, S. (1990a) Wound cleansing agents. In Wound Management Dressings. The Pharmaceutical Press (Chapter 11, p. 76).

Thomas, S. (1990b) ibid p. 78.