Puppy broke upper Canine need experienced help quick - Page 1

I need any possible advise/counsel in the next few hours on a tooth issue if anyone might possibly have had any experience with a broken puppy tooth.

I have an 11 week old puppy. Several days ago when we woke up in the morning, I noticed her right side from the eye to the start of the nose all swollen on one side. She looked like a Bull Terrier on one side of her face. She was so swollen and sore I was unable to get the mouth open to check what it could be and called vet.

Vet said it was probably a spider bite in her crate during the night and that was not uncommon this time of year here. He advised giving her Benadryl for a day or so. She was acting normally, eating normally even chomping dry kibble and chewing on her puppy toys, ropes and bones. I knew it had to be a bite or a tooth, but because she seemed to "use" her mouth normally, we decided on a spider bite.

After 2 days on Benadryl, she still was swollen but not as bad. On day 3 I was able to open the mouth and saw that the front canine had discolored and that there was a tiny chip off the bottom of the tooth with a black dot showing at the broken end on the upper right canine. I called the vet who then checked her and said she had a ruptured abscess from the broken tooth that had caused the swelling as he saw evidence with darker spots on the gum of the abscess and told me what pain she had probably been in. Poor pup :(

He wants to put her under anesthesia this morning and pull the tooth. He said of course the anesthesia could cause cardiac arrest and that by removing this puppy tooth 2 months early is no guarantee that her adult teeth will come in normally or that it will not effect her bite. He sure didn't sound positive or encouraging, but his opinion is the dead tooth should come out today.

Does anyone have experience with this in a puppy tooth and should I have it pulled this morning. Will this have any effect on her adult teeth coming in or her bite or anything? Does it have to be pulled if there is no pain and it's not effecting her eating or chewing? Or will leaving it in effect it's "dropping" when the time would come due to no proper blood flow or something and then a healthy adult canine coming in?

Any educated information is appreciated and I thank you in advance.

There are Veterinary Board certified dentists that I am sure your Veterinarian knows in your area or if not you can find by calling another boarded specialist in the area for refferal.  I would not worry at all about a broken baby tooth, and suspect left alone it would do no harm to the puppy.  Adult canines start to come in from 3 to 6 months.  Anesthesia reactions under a compitant Veterinarian are rare but always possible, why put the pup through an unnecessary procedure.

The roots to a tooth are buried in the bone. Bone infectiions are NASTY NASTY NASTY, and can be very stubborn. I do not think having the tooth pulled will affect the adult teeth. The roots to the baby teeth are very shallow. Get it done, NOW!

I work as an RN, and the last patient I had with an abcessed tooth was over a month on intravenous antibiotics. THAT'S how serious this can be!

And do not let your dog chew on bones, or the really super-hard Nylabones. Vets who specialize in canine dentistry make their living off dogs who have broken teeth on these two things. Do you happen to have $3,000 lying around to spend on a tooth crown, or surgery to remove a broken adult tooth? Didn't think so....

Oh yeah, only very light anesthetic will be required for a procedure this simple, so I would not worry about the anesthetic. The vet is merely doing his job, by warning you about all possible complications, even if they only happen once in 100,000 surgeries....

Not in a puppy but my 9 1/2 yo male just had to have one of his upper teeth surgically removed on Monday.  Do look for a Veterinary Board certified dentist in your area if possible.   But if there infection, the tooth needs to come out.  The anesthetic is very light and it really doesn't take long for the procedure.  My boy went in at 9:00 and was awake by 10:30 with no real pain.  One thing though, in my dog's case, they put him on antibotics for a week PRIOR to the removal to stop the infection.  My vet said he needed to be infection free before they did the extraction.  Has the vet given your pup any antibotics?  Remember in my case, we're talking about adult teeth.

Celtic,

No, no dog dentists within hundreds of miles so have to go with a standard dog vet today. When he checked her 2 days ago I asked about antibiotics and pain meds and he didn't imply she needed any prior as the abscess has broken already and the tooth has died. He did say I will put her on antibiotics after the "pulling" today and probably for one week.

Sun,

No, it must have happened while she was playing with her mom which I believe is what happened. Mom is teaching her to play with the tugs and braided ropes and snatches them away in play and I bet it caught the very tip of her tooth on a braided rope tug. She does not chew on her crate or fencing. She does not get "Bone" Bones. The hardest thing to chew I've given her besides stuffed animals, braided ropes and puppy squeekies are puppy sized chicken basted rawhides to exercise the jaw muscles to help her ears to go up.

I would not have the tooth extracted--possibly put her on an antibiotic (preferably cephalexin--never tetracycline) for 10-14 days to treat any possible lingering infection. The deciduous tooth has a very shallow root (not shallow in an adult tooth) and will fall out naturally when the permanent tooth begins to erupt. Give your pup plenty of raw, meaty bones to chew to help loosen the tooth.

I'd ask my vet how many dogs he or she has seen with broken teeth from chewing on bones.

One of my friends had to have THREE teeth pulled from her Cardi bitch, all caused by chewing on raw marrowbones. I was very glad I wasn't  paying the vet bill for that!

There are safer ways to keep your dog's teeth clean.

I'd ask my vet how many dogs he or she has seen with broken teeth from chewing on bones.

Your vet will will not know of the of the vast majority of dogs with no problems from chewing bones. He will only know about the pets he has treated when their owners have fed them long bones and/or cooked bones.

I never said anything about (long) marrow bones or keeping the teeth clean. Flat/short/irregular bones such as turkey, chicken, lamb, and pork necks--as well as, chicken backs are fine--they do not splinter--they are soft and contain lots of cartilage. 

My GSD adults chew and consume pork necks daily. Even if your pup cannot crunch and swallow some larger bones, she will still get the needed chewing exercise and nutrients. Allow your pup to chew the bones under your supervision if you have any doubts.

Even if you decide not to feed raw, meaty bones, I would not have the tooth extracted or have the pup anesthetized (a challenge to an already immature immune system) if it were mine. Treat the infection and have the tooth drop out on its own.

It's true that, years ago, I had a GSD that was particularly hard on his mouth and fractured several teeth from chewing hard  femur bones. Significantly, this fellow was not weaned on soft, raw, meaty bones. However, my current GSD's do enjoy the occasional exercise of chewing femur bones as long as these bones have joints at both ends. Once the joints are well chewed, the bones are discarded.

Is her face still swollen?  I don't understand why she was not started on antibiotics/anti imflamitories already-she should only need a light seditive to extract a baby tooth, I would have it done provided she is healthy otherwise.  If the abscess was large enough to swell the whole side of her face, I would not wait.