Broken Teeth - Page 1

Has anyone ever had any problem with broken teeth? 

I have a 2 1/2 year old male shepherd in Schutzhund training.   I just noticed a broken front eye tooth.  Is this a vitamin deficiency?  Any advice will be appreciated.

Thank you,

Beth

I lost a 12 year old male in 2003 that lived the better part of his life with a broken eye tooth.  I never did figure out how the tooth was broken.  The dog's overall health was fine and the remaining tooth was not cracked so our vet recommended leaving it. 

Our much trusted vet retired this dog was in his prime.  I had several new vets recommend removing the broken tooth simply because it was broken.  Since there was no issue with the tooth (swelling in the gums, or decay in the tooth) I left well enough alone. 

Here's hoping you boy's tooth doesn't cause any issues.

I think he did while snapping at fireflies (his favorite pastime).  My worry was if possibly this could affect his bitework.

Thanks for your reply

Beth

One of my females broke a lower canine I think when playing with another dog wearing a fursaver collar. I think her tooth got twisted in a link and snapped it in two. It does not give her any problems in bitework.

It all depends where and how deep the tooth is broken. Most of my dogs have chipped or broken there teeth at some stage while playing or biting bones and it had not made a impact yet.

In a sever case your dog would not be eating and this would mean that you should visit the vet.

My DS had a broken lower canine tooth did fine for 4 years then became infected.  Was going to do root canal to save the tooth but the specialist said it would fail in the long run. Had the tooth removed.  No issues, made sure the area healed well before going back to training.  She still is going strong today.  And yes we  brush  the teeth everyday.

If the break involves the nerve, you want to get a root canal or extraction. You can have serious issues with infection up in the nasal cavity.

If you do a root canal and still do bitework, I think you wold need a titanium crown. When we did our dental work the vet dentist (who did a lot for police) told me that a porcleain crown would not last.  We did no crown but she does not do bitework.

Her tooth never bothered her, by the way, and I only noticed it was broken after the tooth had died and turned brown. The only observation I made was her scentwork was "off" and you could explain that because she did have an infection along the root.  If you do an extraction, make sure a veterinary DENTIST does it. One wrong move and they can break through the palate.