Missing Teeth

[Amy and Annabelle]

Annabelle is 3.5 years old and a mini f1b goldendoodle. I just had her teeth cleaned. They said she has wonderful strong teeth that are well taken care of. They did some x-rays on her and she is missing 6 teeth, most of them molars. They said there is no sign they were ever there in the first place. They just said it was nothing to worry about. My question is, is this normal for dogs in general, or one of the breeds in her mix, or the breeder? 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's usually genetic, and probably means that one or more of the parents or grandparents did not have what is call "full dentition". 

[Amy and Annabelle]

Thanks, I guess I should be happy the teeth she has are in great shape. I'm also not surprised the breeder may have bred dogs that didn't have "full dentition". I love Annabelle, but if I had it to do over, I would have found this site before the dog. But I guess hindsight is always 20/20.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Always, lol.

As long as the vet is not concerned, I wouldn't be either. 

[Amy and Annabelle]

It just makes me sad my baby is missing 6 teeth. That seems like a lot and that it would make chewing kibble painful. But the vet didn't seem concerned about it. They gave me a printout of her teeth and the ones she is missing. 

[Stacy]

I wouldn't worry too much about her ability to chew. I once had a little tiny rescue without a single tooth and he never had any trouble with kibble at all. He actually had a much harder time with soft food. He couldn't pick it up. But he never showed any sign of pain eating kibble.

[Amy and Annabelle]

That's good to know. I guess she takes after me. I only had one wisdom tooth come in, the rest were non-existent. That may explain a lot...

[Stacy]

She takes after her mommy!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I think it is pretty wonderful that Anabelle's teeth are strong. My daughter's tiny rescue dog (not a doodle), has horrible teeth - she is almost toothless now because they keep getting infected, then pulled. I am not sure she ever had full dentition either.  However, she has NO problem eating kibble.

Can dentition problems sometimes be from breeding such disparate  sized dogs?  I often wonder about that.

Hindsight is wonderful, isn't it?  My Springer Spaniel was from a backyard breeder.  He had a myriad  of orthopedic, skin, and anxiety issues. We loved him to death, but on our 'next' dogs we can move forward because we now have new knowledge and understanding that we had no idea of before. 

I keep getting asked about breeders in Southern California.  I keep explaining WHY using a reputable breeder can be important.  I keep sending the link to the dk guidelines about finding a good breeder.  Then what happens??? - these people find a horrible back yard breeder in some ad and get what they think is a doodle (but who knows when they don't even see any parents). Or they join a doodle group on FB and see the backyard breeders posts about their (poorly bred but cute) puppies and think they must be reputable. I am so frustrated!

[Stacy]

Just anecdotally, from my own tiny dogs, I feel like tiny dogs just have terrible teeth. My little 4 pound Olivia was in a dental study years ago where they cleaned her teeth every six months and she still lost teeth nearly every time. My parents big dog had no dental care for 14 years and her teeth still looked pretty good. I wonder if it's because they have the same number of teeth in such a tiny mouth, or if it's because the roots are shorter because they're so much smaller? Or maybe it's just genetic. But you're right. They don't seem to have any problems with it. I always felt bad because my dental care wasn't enough to give them a mouth full of pearly whites. 

I feel your frustration about educating people about finding a good breeder. I want to tell them about my nightmare of having two sick dogs from a puppy mill. I wish I could prevent it from happening to other people. I wish I could keep them from financially supporting the people who breed their dogs to death and then throw them away. I think most people think they know better and that it would never happen to them. But keep saying it. If even one person hears you and does something different it counts. And maybe one day the world will pay attention and the market for puppies from these people will dry up. I have no problem with breeders. But I wish we could only support breeders who are doing it right.