Teeth Issues

[~Jessie~]

I've never really paid much attention to Rylie and Chloe's teeth. I do clean them with the Petzlife gel, but I generally just stick it on my finger and rub it against their teeth without looking inside their mouths.

Anyway, I was taking a close look yesterday at Chloe's teeth and realized one of her bottom teeth was really loose It completely wiggled back and forth. I took an even closer look and it seems like she doesn't have the right amount of teeth.

I counted about 28 (included the loose tooth), and dogs are supposed to have 42. She also has a couple of really small 'nub' like teeth on the top that look like they just never grew in correctly. My count could be completely wrong, since she has a short muzzle and it's hard to really see well into her mouth. There's no possible way she has 42 teeth, though.

She's almost 3 years old, by the way.

It makes me mad that NO vet has said anything about this... we've gone through a few different vet offices because we haven't found one we like. However, Chloe was just at the vet this past spring for her rabies vaccine and a check up and it went unnoticed

Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? We have a vet appointment for Friday afternoon with a new vet office to get it checked out.

[TheGoldenRetriever]

Originally Posted by ~Jessie~

I was taking a close look yesterday at Chloe's teeth and realized one of her bottom teeth was really loose It completely wiggled back and forth.

Could be periodontal disease ... even though she's only 3 yrs. old. Tiny dogs are notorious for bad teeth issues.

Do her other teeth show tartar build-up? That's another sign of periodontal disease. It can hide, their teeth can appear white until you look very close in a good strong light. Check near the gumline for dark yellow or brownish lines.

[FoxyWench]

its VERY common for chis to not only retain baby teeth but sometimes have adult teeth that never actually come through, esepcially in the smaller guys (dodgers teeth are sparkling with no issues what so ever, yet hes got 2 teeth that never grew in right, and all be it there tiny theres definatly not a full 42 set in his itty bitty mouth.

i would have her teeth proerly checked, chis are notorious for bad teeth and occasionally bad retention, but if theres not alot of plaque it could just be "not enough room in my mouth syndrome" as my vet calls it...

[~Jessie~]

We ended up getting Chloe x-rayed yesterday... along with a dental and a tooth extraction. The vet said the tooth that was loose was just a retained baby tooth, and that it wasn't even really connected to anything since it was so loose. Her gums looked good... no pockets or irritation or anything.

[TheGoldenRetriever]

Oh good news!! Glad Chloe's doing well ... she likely feels more comfortable with that loose retained milk tooth gone!! Likely it was not painful for her ... but probably had previously been uncomfortable for her to deal with that loose tooth while eating or chewing a toy.

No troubles now.

[Shadow945]

Glad to hear it wasn't a problem. Did the vet say anything about how your dog has less teeth than normal? But it's good that you're keeping up with her oral health, since dental bills can be expensive at the vet. I don't really brush my dog's teeth since he won't sit still, so I go with Bright Bites.