Chipped teeth

[skKi]

When should one go to the vet for a dog's chipped tooth?

Pit nicks the very tips off his front teeth more often than I'm comfortable with, but when I took him to the vet, all I got was "It's fine, don't worry." Well now he chipped a tooth again a little more than usual, I can kind of see brown in the middle of the tooth. Is THIS enough to merit some dentistry? If something needs to be done, obviously I'd like to do it before it gets bad. I hate going in when I don't need to.. which happens to be the case 80% of the time

I tried taking photos, but it's more the back of the tooth that's broken and you can't see the brown from the front. It only works when he's laying on his back and I can get an overhead shot..

The chip is there the arrow is. If you compare to the tooth on the other side, it's a fair bit shorter.. probably 3/4 the size.

Behind the tooth is where you can see the brownish middle. It doesn't look like a root, but what do I know?

 

[bubbatd]

My dogs had so many chipped teeth though the years ....if it didn't bother them , I'd let them go . Annual check ups helped prove my concern .

 

[Tankstar]

Blaze recently broke off half his tooth. i rushed in to the vet that day. Only to be told. There is not much that can be done. I had 2 options.

1)leave it and see what happens.
2) remove it for 400 bucks.

I chose number 1. as there was no problem other then being broken. vet said it would turn brown and die. just keep a close eye on it, if it starts to change such as the gum line, bring him in for removal.

So I wouldnt bring him in for that. its a small chip IMO, atleast compared to Blazes full out pretty much all gone tooth lol

 

[Kristy_Spca3]

I would bring him to the vet, because since you see the brown, it means there's a little hole permitting the bacteria to get to the root of his tooth and it could infect. Although, this does not always happen, the tooth just dies and it turns to a grey-brown color. Without proper x-rays, there is no real way to know if the tooth is being infected or not.

Sources: When Your Dog Breaks a Tooth - PetWave.com

 

[Toller_08]

I'd probably leave it, though it's hard to tell from your pictures whether it's serious or not. Dance has a couple chipped teeth, and they don't seem to cause her any problems. I didn't even know up until two days ago when I was cleaning her teeth, and they had to have been like that a while. Tango chipped a tooth pretty badly, and it didn't affect her either. She lived with it for 3 years. Got it checked whenever we went to the vet for other reasons, but he was never concerned about it. Tango had a brown line on hers, and Dance doesn't have any brown at all.

 

[skKi]

I'll probably save this one for my next scheduled vet trip as it really doesn't bother him at all. I can scratch at the broken bit with my nail and he doesn't even react, so it clearly doesn't hurt yet.

Thanks everyone.

 

[DanL]

You should see Gunnar's teeth. His bottom canines are worn flat from bite work and balls. It doesn't bother him at all. A guy I used to train with had a Bouv who broke off his 2 top canines. The nerves were hanging out, yet that dog continued on as if nothing ever happened.

 

[skKi]

Bringing this old thread up again. Thanks for all the replies, by the way!

Since this thread, a couple more teeth have chipped and he broke the top of his canine off. Again, none seem to bother him, but I have to wonder why the heck all his teeth are chipping? What does it mean when a dog has weak teeth? Deficiencies of some kind, or maybe they're not clean enough? All of his teeth are still very white.

He goes in for titre testing in October so I'll ask the vet then, but does anyone here have any insight? Thanks again..

 

[Criosphynx]

all four of Emmas canines are broken ....two at the gumline..

vet says don't worry about it. She had a dental last year and I told them to extract them if they felt it neccesary...they left them there.

Does he play with lots of toys? The vet thinks Em ruined hers chewing on tennis balls (we will never know, she was like this when we got her)

I don't think its a healthy/not healthy thing...I just think som' dogs are really rough on their mouths.

 

[skKi]

He doesn't play with toys all that much, and when he does it's strictly giant stuffed animals and no hard chew toys. He does like ripping up sticks on walks though. Otherwise, of the three dogs in the house I'd say Pit is the softest mouth when it comes to toys.

I suppose it's no big deal he has broken teeth, but I'm admittedly pretty vain in the sense that I want his cute little teeth to stay pretty. I'll be sad if they start turning brown because he keeps breaking them.

 

[skKi]

OK. OK. I'm sorry to keep reviving this old thread, but this is ridiculous. Pit was to get his titre test done in less than a week where I was going to ask about his teeth. I was going to ask what to do to make them stronger -- ask why they're breaking. Of course he wouldn't let me wait that long! Oh no.

Pit went and broke his upper 4th premolar to ****, pardon my french.

Most of the surface shattered off and he cracked it straight up the middle. All chips and cracks extend right up into the gumline to make it extra special.

Just.. argh. I'll be calling the vet in the morning while I'm at work to see if I can get in as soon as possible. Maybe since I caught it right away the tooth can be saved for a small fortune. :wall:

 

[PlottMom]

I'm curious about this as well - my 6 year old female Plott was 4.5 when we got her, and one of her (molars?) was broken off flat to her gumline. My vet said not to worry about it, it doesn't bother her at all, it's just broken. Then recently (like a little over a month ago?) she cracked a canine in half horizontally and then vertically up into her gumline. It was wiggling in 2 different directions and had to be surgically removed. I've always wondered if she just had weak teeth, as, much like the above poster's dog, she never plays or chews excessively on anything...

I'll be interested to see what your vet says!