6 month old canines issue - Page 1

My vet noticed that my puppies lower canine teeth are coming in more straight up towards the roof of his mouth instead of slightly outward.

They want me to consult with a dental specialist to discuss capping the teeth which will force them outward. They are still growing, but they said if I wait, then they cannot do the caps and may at a later time be forced to file them down, root canal etc. as to prevent them from hitting the roof of his mouth.

Ive seen several other folks that had this issue with their pups and they simply waited and they eventually shifted out. The procedure is a $1000, not something I un-necessarily want to spend.....any thoughts out there?

Thanks

other than missing teeth, and the occasional over bite, i have seen few issues in our GSD breed with teeth and the need for a specialist. One question, do you have dog health insurance? My observation is dog health policys lead to more referrals.

When did he loose the baby canines? If they were still retained while the permanent canines were growing in, the baby teeth can cause the new teeth to be directed inward. Nature wants things to be normal, and they will likely correct without the heroics of a specialist.

Gsdstudent, we posted at the same time, but wanted to say, excellent point re health insurance.

Nope, no insurance. 

I got a Kong toy as I heard that chewing on something like that can help push them outwards. Unfortunately hes not much of a ball type object chewer, he prefers sticks etc. which I dont think help in this case.

Are we talking about a German Shepherd, and how old is the dog in question?

I had a dog that retained his baby canine while the adult canine was coming in. Same thing happened, adult canine came in more vertical than it should have. I went to a dental specialist and we decided to try a less invasive means of straightening the tooth out. Every day, 5 times a day, I had to wrap my index finger around that tooth and gently pull it towards the proper posistion.This was done for as long as my dog would allow it. Which was about 30 seconds to start. He finally allowed me to get up to 5 minutes. I don't remember how long (month or two) we had to do this but it worked.

The other option she suggested was to put a rubber ball in the dogs mouth and hold it in position, with jaw held closed....that did not work for me....For him that meant play time....lol.

Good Luck.

 

 

6 month old GSD.

I do want to add that even when he had his baby canines comin gin, the vet noticed an issue with them, so appears as though his adult teeth are following the same pattern.

Sorry, but I have very little faith in most regular vets and their observations regarding normal vs. abnormal development in GSDs. Can you post photos please? To get baby teeth out to minimize potential for damage due to them being retained, I don't think much works better than raw, meaty bones.