UPDATE ON NED'S Slab Fracture on Back Molar

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We took the dogs to the vet today for their annual checkups and immunizations.  The vet found that Ned has a slab fracture on his back molar.  He said it is quite a common occurance - NOT at my house! His suggestion is to watch it and when it starts to get infected, have it removed.  I did a search on dk and what I found seems to bear out that repair is not always successful as well as bring very costly.   Ned chews on bones, antlers, Nylabones. I have always worried that since we use larger and strong chewer ones because of the bigger dogs it might be bad for Ned's smaller jaw/teeth.  Maybe this is not a good idea or maybe his tooth would do this anyway? Does anyone have any updated information they can share? Opinions on waiting until it bothers him?  Having the vet do the procedure rather than seeking a doggy dentist?  We are still paying for Gordie's CCL surgery........ sigh.

UPDATE. NED GOT HIS TOOTH PULLED

We had a phone consultation with a specialist and were told that pulling Ned's tooth was a relatively simple procedure.  So we decided to have our regular vet do it.  Since we were concerned that if we waited until it was infected ( allowing him to keep the tooth longer), there might be more complications, so we had it pulled last week. 

Ned had nothing to eat or drink after midnight and was dropped off  at 8 a.m.  I  called periodically all day only to be told that they hadn't gotten to him yet.  We called at 4:00 and he still hadn't been worked on, so we decided that we would pick him up and bring him back. But when we got there they were just finishing him up and they said we would have to leave him overnight!  I was quite upset about that because Ned has never been away from  us at night,  he doesn't eat in public and doesn't pee or poo for others or on-leash very well at all.  I was there when they opened the next morning expecting a mad, pouty Ned.  However, a cheerful good-smelling, happy-to-see-me Ned pranced out to greet me the next morning. As soon as we got outside to the grass, he peed for about an hour! 

He is taking 50 mg of Rimadyl once a day and the antibiotic, Clindamycin, 75 mg twice a day.  He was starving for a couple of days and even ate as soon as I set the dish down, but now has settled back into his old habit of night eating - but with an improved appetite.  I was told I didn't need to, but I have been softening his kibble and will continue to do so until he runs out of meds.  He had a few disolving stitches to close the gum and my logic tells me that he shouldn't irritate it with hard kibble. Because he is eating more, I wonder if his tooth did hurt him... or.... maybe he just  likes softened kibble.

[Trudy Harlow]

There is a downside to losing a tooth, which is that the space created affects the stability of the surrounding teeth.  If it's a lower tooth, then the upper tooth opposite it can "drop" from having no resistance below.  Just something else to consider.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

That too.  And then what do you do?  A bridge in a dog? Not likely  :(

[F, Calla & Luca]

Another good reason o not pull the tooth unless it's really necessary, though.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I think this is why our vet suggested watching waiting.  I am concerned about him being in pain though.

[Martha & Cooper]

Yep, they do bridges in dogs.  Not saying I would do one on my dog, but it is available to those who want to pursue this.  Here is a link to an article very similar to the brochure I saw:

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vsr/dentistry/dentalcare.htm

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I tried calling the veterinary surgeon today and though they are usually open on Saturdays, they aren't answering today.  So more internet searching to see if there is a specialist in my area.  Poor little Nedderbudder....

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

Aww Nedder, WTD? Murphy and Bella are hoping you are not feeling that ol broken tooth and still can eat lots of yummy treats.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am sure Ned could suck down any treat he liked, just not the ones he doesn't like!  He could probably eat steak, ham, cheese, but not green beans or carrots.

[Wendy and Eddie]

Elmo had the same thing happen last year. It was right before Christmas, and since he was due for a teeth cleaning in January, the vet said I could wait until then. As best as I can recall, she said about the same thing about infection, that since it wasn't infected, it was okay to wait a bit, but to check diligently for infection. She also said that there are dog dentists who do root canals to save the tooth, but I didn't want to go that route. Now that I think about it, Elmo's tooth wasn't a back molar b/c the vet said those have 4 roots, so are harder to remove and more expensive for root canals. They did have break his tooth up to get it out, but he did fine.

This happened just a month or two after I started giving him antlers to chew. I know lots of people never have any trouble with antlers, (well, that would the dogs, I suppose,) but I decided it was too much of a coincidence, so I've stopped getting antlers for him.