Dental repair instead of tooth removal?

[Ken Seversen]

We are taking Tess to a dental vet at Iowa State U tomorrow.   She has two upper teeth that are broken off, and you can look into the hollow teeth.   The vet who pointed it out to us (don't know how I missed it) said "never let her chew anything hard.  If you slap yourself on your leg with the chew and it hurts, it's too hard."   That would put a whole log of dog toys and chew makers out of business.  I thought her chews were the reason her teeth are so clean.  

Has anyone out there had dental repair done that saved a tooth?  Tess is allergic to dissolving sutures which complicates things and she's not an old dog.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Well heck, just about anything a dog could chew on would hurt if you slap yourself with it. And I agree with you that most chews do keep their teeth clean. What has she been getting to chew on. I read once that Nylabones were causing some dental injury's due to how hard they were.  I think I'd want to know why my dog's teeth were so soft to cause this type of injury so I could treat and prevent it from happening again. But then I have a dog that eats rocks, so nothing seems "too hard" for her and her teeth are all still in one piece.

 

[Ken Seversen]

I have no idea what she could have broken them with.   I will ask why her teeth are so susceptible.  I wonder if her taking Atopica for allergies weakens her teeth in some way?   Makes me sick b/c her teeth have always been great and my vet always comments on that.   I did buy some leather chews that are designed to help clean teeth.  They have some cleaning agent infused into them and they aren't leather chews but made to look like leather.  I got them from a vet!    Thanks for your thoughts.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Gingival hyperplasia is a known side-effect of Atopica. This is a form of gum disease, but it might very well weaken the teeth, I don't know. It does cause the teeth to look small and sometimes the gums can even completely engulf or hide the teeth.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Gingival hyperplasia in people often results in decay because people have a hard time leaning their teeth due to overlapping gums, bleeding, etc. I don't know if this happens in dogs or even if this dog has gingival hyperplasia.

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

no... but one of my dogs had a tooth extracted after half of it broke off. I did look into tooth repair done by a specialist, but it would have set us back $2K, so opted for the less expensive and quicker procedure (he did not need sutures, btw). Plus, no one can tell anyway and he's doing fine without the tooth. It was pretty obvious he was in pain though, so I'm glad you're getting your dog's teeth fixed!! And, he broke the tooth after playing ball!! Which he still does daily.. and his other teeth are fine so far.

[Ken Seversen]

2k!   And Tess has two broken off!   My vet was set to remove them but I reminded him that Tess is allergic to dissolving sutures and he quickly passed me off to the dental vet.   The dermatologist at ISU discovered the broken teeth and remarked on how few and how small Tess' teeth are.   She's pretty much a perfect reflection of her defective "master!"

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Do you think Tess' small and few teeth problem could be because she is a mini?  Ned is small also and although he is multigenerational, I often wonder about the mix between large and small and how that might work out genetically.

[Ken Seversen]

I asked that and she did say Tess was missing two upper teeth that she should have.   She also said they may be in her bone above the teeth which they will find out about when they x ray her.   Otherwise, they thought her teeth were "normal."   She said it wasn't that unusual to not have all the teeth they should have.

 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Thanks for replying Ken. Size mis-matches causing problems is just something I think about.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Sorry to hear about this, hope everything goies well poor Tess

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Our vet is a dental specialist and  she said the same thing that you were told about testing for the hardness of chews.  The problem isn't only the concern about teeth breaking but also about continued wear on them over time.We still let Tara chew bully sticks though.  I think the chews do help keep their teeth clean but as they are wearing off the plaque they are also wearing on the enamel apparently.

I'm sorry to hear of Tess's problem and hope you can find a good solution for her. Are they planning to crown the tooth or just what does the repair involve?  And what would keep the crown or filling from popping out if she bites on something hard?  It might be good to know the average longevity of this type of repair so you can determine if it is permanent or something that would have to be repeated later.

[Ken Seversen]

They couldn't guarantee that root canals and crowns would work and avoid abscesses.  So, we will have them extracted.  Thanks for your input, it really made me think about the crown option and its longevity.  She also said that couldn't be assured given dogs' tendencies to chew things too hard for them.   She said "that's why wild dogs don't live very long....infections."