Broken tooth as a puppy

[Shianne Mack]

So I previously posted about my pup loosing his top right canine tooth, but I examined it more and realized it looks more like it broke. It did not break at the gum, but it has a little jagged edge which makes me believe he broke it somehow. He is 14 weeks old, so I know he will be loosing his puppy teeth soon, so should I be worried? He seems to be acting normal, and he seems to be wanting to bite things more which makes me think he is teething, but i don't know. Has this happened to anyone else before? Thanks! 

The picture attached shows his tooth...the only way i could make him sit still was to give him his bone. (:

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Personally, I'd have your vet take a look at it.

[Laura and Angus]

It couldn't hurt to talk with your vet. We had our pup lose pieces of his teeth (mostly the back ones though) -- sometimes they did not fall out in one large piece. I believe the milk teeth do die as the adult tooth grows and they disconnect from the gums. Some of our puppy's teeth got dark before falling out. 

[Roz Liberman]

My vet said all the baby teeth are usually gone by 6 months. Scout is almost 5 months old, and almost all his baby teeth are gone, and his big teeth are in. I wouldn't   worry about it. Roz

[Cammy Todd]

I don't think we've lost teeth yet (Izzy was 14 weeks yesterday), but I don't stick my hand in there too often:)  I would just call the vet and ask what they think!

I have noticed in the last week that Izzy's chewing on things has become much more intense!  It normally only took her about 10 min of chewing on a bully stick or kong to settle and fall asleep at night while we were watching TV, but the other night she was biting hard on that thing for almost an hour!  I think it's time to knot and freeze a couple of socks!

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Careful with using socks as a teething toy- Izzy might decide that ALL socks are teething toys... :-)

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

This!^  The same with any clothing, shoes or "old" kids toys.  They do not/can not differentiate between old and new.

[Cammy Todd]

Wow - thanks!  So many people have suggested the frozen tube sock.  Do you have other suggestions for a teething puppy? 

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

We had a couple of canvas type toys. I use to wet and freeze. I think Petstages actually sells a similar teething toy. But at least this way they know a toy from a sock.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

In one of my last litters, I had a couple complaining their pup kept stealing their kids jeans and ruined a number of pairs. I thought it was really odd until I was over their house visiting and there on the floor was an old Jean leg tied in a knot, being used as a chew toy. Bingo! They had never gave it a second thought.

[Laura and Angus]

We used to use a frozen/twisted hand towel, but our puppy loved ice cubes way more and kinda lost interest in the frozen towel. I would say that puppies often loves socks, clothing, and old toys not because they think it's a toy, but because it's stuff that smells like us. We never gave Angus socks to chew, but that is his favorite thing to grab and run away with from the wash.  I would say it's really just crucial to teach the command drop it and leave it to avoid having puppy grabbing your things - and even then it takes a TON of practice.

[Kaitee and Orwell]

This same thing happened to Orwell. Actually, both of his top canines broke. One was when he was playing tug of war and the other when I was examining his broken tooth and when I let go, his bite didn't reset and he chipped off the tip of the other. They were just so long and thin (and like daggers! I still have the puncture wound scar in my thigh from that time) that they easily broke.

Like you, I was worried, so I took him to the vet. They said it should be fine as long as they come out okay and he didn't show any signs of those broken teeth of stopping him. They came out just fine and he was still the happiest puppy. And now, he has the most pretty adult teeth and are healthy and strong. 

[Christy&Riley]

You might want to be careful with bones as those can break teeth.