Impacted puppy (baby) teeth?

When getting a consult for my puppy's neutering, I was told by the vet (Banfield inside Petsmart) that if his baby teeth don't come out on their own by the date of his surgery, they should be removed at the same time that he is neutered to avoid problems (infection?). The cost is $80 per tooth (4 teeth).

Kirby is my 4th dog and I've never had problems with baby teeth not coming out on their own, nor was I advised back then to worry.

Is this a legitimate concern? (The vet wouldn't give me a straight answer.)

Thank you!

how old is he??

He is almost 6 months old.

It's true that you need to be careful of baby teeth not falling out, but mostly it only becomes a problem when the adult tooth grows in next to it... this happened with Auggie. He had a loose tooth, but it didn't fall out before his adult tooth grew in so they were both there. It took a REALLY good tug game with a tennis ball, but the baby tooth did fall out on his own.

I recommend you rough it up and yank at his baby teeth. => Will he let you get in his mouth and examine his teeth with your fingers? I was prodding around in Auggie's mouth from day one, so I could actually get in his mouth and wiggle the teeth, and even pulled one because it was getting stuck in a funny position... if you can do that, find the baby tooth and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle away to try and help it work it's way out.

But my goodness... four teeth?? I think maybe he's just still a baby and his little baby teeth haven't fallen out yet... when is his surgery date - how old will he be then?

Impacted teeth may come out on their own... but the problem is if they dont they need to be put under again... so most vets choose to do it when the animal is being fixed... however 80 dollars per tooth is ALOT... my pup just had 4 done during nuetering for less then that ALTOGTHER.:yikes:

If they are not out at near 6 months of age, they are likely not coming out by themselves, and my opinion is yes, they should be removed.

Retained puppy teeth are especially common in some toy breeds, and can cause serious issues with the mouth later if they are not promptly removed.

I will add that removing puppy teeth once adult teeth have come in and pinned them in place is NOT EASY TO DO. I have observed this surgery done on puppies who were not yet FIVE months old, and it takes patience, skill, and the right tools to get the tooth out without fragmenting it, or damaging the adult tooth that is very nearby.

If it were a dog I intended to show (not likely in your case I imagine) I would have this done ONLY by a dental specialist because of the risk of fragmentation of the root, or damage to the adult tooth.

JMO as always.

Smudge was having this issue. But he had the adult teeth slowly coming in at the same time. I started spending a few minutes multiple times in a day wiggling the baby teeth, and they were coming loose. 2 were being forced out by adult teeth, 1 fell out almost the first time I decided he needed extra help, 1 was persistent though. It took effort to get it out with tug, toys, and wiggling.

If all 4 seem firmly in place still, I'd get quotes from other clinics as they should come out while he's under and banfield has high prices for a lot of things.

I sure wouldn't trust a Petsmart vet !

Wow... I didnt know it was this serious... all 4 of my dogs have had to have impacted teeth removed... 3 had adult teeth already fully in as well... the vets I used are very skilled but not dental specialists... Im glad I didnt know this before or I would have been soooo worried.

Thankfully, we have never had a problem... not that I am showing my dog but I still wouldnt want them to lose teeth.

yikes.

Thank you all for your replies.

Kirby does let me prod inside his mouth - I just checked and the bottom two canines are quite loose. But, his upper are still pretty firm.

As a former Banfield employee, I couldn't agree more.

Agreed again.

Uh oh. Can you divulge anything?

I figured out the cost of the neutering, vaccines, etc. with a private vet and the prices came out to be very comparable, so I signed up with the intention of cancelling after a year.

P.S. 3 out of the 4 baby teeth are already out and the last one is pretty loose. I sure would have been crying over that $320+ they wanted to charge.