Infected mouth/jowl?

[liz96n]

Hi everyone,
Below are pictures of my 2 yr old male central dunner which no one can tell me what’s wrong with him.
A bit of background, he always suffers respiratory infections in summer (don’t know why), and I normally discover this when he starts coughing/regurgitating but this time I think it’s something different. I originally noticed that he had a droopy lip on the right side and when I looked he had a brown patch on his gum. I took him to a general vet (non-reptile but she has experience with them) and she noticed that there was mucus in his mouth (his lungs sounded fine so not respiratory). She wasn’t sure what it was but gave me oral antibiotics as it was it was clear it was some type of infection. A week later he hadn’t gotten better so I took him to a reptile specialist expecting them to tell me it’s moth rot or an infected jowl, but he couldn’t tell me anything either, so he gave me injectable antibiotics which I’m giving as well as the oral (as vet directed). A week later and I’m only seeing minor improvements. He’s still energetic, eating etc and the vet confirmed that my housing arrangements are adequate. I also contacted the breeder I bought him off who said that it’s normal for dunners to cough/regurgitate as they can store food in their jowl for hours before swallowing (the vet was concerned that he vomited when he opened his mouth). So that’s no longer a concern, but I’m still concerned about the mucus sitting in the back of his throat and the brown gum seems to be getting worse.
I’m reluctant to go back to the vet as I’ve spent $400 in two weeks to get no answers, hence why I’m now posting here.
Am I doing the right thing with antibiotics and will he eventually get better or is there something more going on? If you have been through this before please tell me what to do because I’m feeling helpless and worried. Thanks in advance!

 

[nuttylizardguy]

Worth seeing a reptile vet .

A sample should be taken for culturing to determine what is likely causing this.

 

[GBWhite]

Coughing, mucus and (as indicated in the second photo) puffy throat are all symptoms of a respiratory infection so I'd be interested to know what type of examination(s) the vet took to determine that the lizards lungs "sounded" ok. RI in lizards is more often than not a result of bacterial infection caused by incorrect husbandry (too cold, too humid, too wet, poor ventilation, incorrect thermal gradient, poor diet) and despite what the vet might have said, if this has been an issue for some time then I'm led to believe that this has more than likely contributed to the lizards ongoing condition and taking measures to address this would be the first thing I would consider. A photo of the enclosure would help to assist in determining if this is the case or not.

The discoloration of the gum is more than likely a secondary infection as a result of the ongoing RI.

As well as administering the antibiotics I'd raise the temperature at the basking spot a couple of degrees, make sure the humidity is steady at around the 30% mark and ensure that the thermal gradient in the enclosure is adequate for the lizard to thermoregulate correctly.