Teeth Grinding

[RedHotDobe]

How on earth do I get my dog to stop grinding her teeth? Not only is the sound like nails on a chalkboard, but there is no way it's good for her teeth. She doesn't do it while she's active, just when she's about to settle or has already settled and is laying down.

[RedHotDobe]

I guess Rumor is the only nutcase out there who has decided that grinding her teeth is a fun activity. -_-

I don't know if she does it more because it got my attention when she first started doing it and I kept telling her to stop, or if she's doing it for a reason and me reacting has nothing to do with it. She's in a down next to my bed right now because I need to write a paper and couldn't deal with her pacing and whining anymore, but no teeth grinding. At night when she gets comfy to go to sleep, she'll grind them. I don't get it. We were at the vet not too long ago and he said her teeth looked fine.

[Fleera]

I wish I knew. Though Jester does this, it's usually because he has a good ear scratch going. But it really sounds like he's breaking his teeth. Luckily he doesn't do it very often. I guess if he did it a lot, I might try to startle him just a bit, like a "hey you" poke on the hindquarters.

[RedHotDobe]

That's why I'm concerned - it sounds terrible. I usually startle her with a "hey" or a "stop" or I pat the bed to get her attention, but I wish I could figure out why she's doing it so I can get her to stop completely rather than just intervene all the time. The sound makes me wince.

[spiffy]

Teeth grinding in dogs is called bruxism. A dogs that grinds it teeth may be in pain as it can be an indication of orthodontic issues. However, this may not be true with your dog. As you said her teeth looked fine. How old is your dog? Teeth grinding is also common in dogs with developing teeth.

[Dizzy]

I've found most dogs do this when they're settling. Kills me.

[Saeleofu]

Gavroche grinds his teeth seasonally. I have NO FREAKING CLUE why or how to stop it. Generally when he starts grinding I give him Melatonin twice a day. I don't know that it actually helps, but I like to think it does, and there's nothing more I can do for him. It drives me NUTS. Every year starting in January or February and continuing through March or April, he grinds his teeth. He's been in for exam, bloodwork, checked his teeth, tried him on ranitidine, NOTHING. He's been on Baytril for nearly 8 weeks now, so I'll be interested to see if it's first of all cleared up his UTI for good and second, if it had any effect on his seasonal grinding. I'm wondering if he's had a chronc low-grade UTI this whole time...


Anyway, yeah, I'm no help, but you're not the only one with a weird dog

[Ratboy]

My Pit mix Gus did it his entire life, whenever he got upset. He had polished "facets" on some of his back teeth. It was a dead giveaway that he was upset about something, and I just considered it one of his "peccadilloes". I don't know how you could stop it.