Pet Orthodontics

[Shannon]

Kodi lost his last puppy tooth a month ago and I discovered two days ago, that his upper adult canine is coming in the wrong place.

Rather than coming in to the right of the lower canine, it is coming in directly on top (you can imagine the problems later on down the road if left untreated). This is how it should normally look:

So I scheduled a vet appt. for next Tues. (the earliest they could see me). They didn't give me much info. over the phone, so I decided to research a little on the web to get an idea of treatments and such and came accross a usefull website: http://www.dentalvet.com/patients/or...thodontics.htm
I was just wondering if anyone had a similar problem that could relate.

[Shannon]

Just posting an update for those of you that read this thread.

Kodi went to vet yesterday, and I was told there was nothing they could do, which kinda bothered me. He suggested waiting until the adult canine came in, then they could either file down or extract the upper or lower canine. I don't really feel comfortable having them take out one of his canines, but I was told they don't really have a use for them. I think I will have to get a second opinion when Kodi goes back to the states with me in Oct.

[BabyElephant]

I meant to post on this thread when you started it first time around but somehow I forgot. I think I was told the same thing with Poppy's canine's - the puppy ones looked as though they were digging in to her gums she had both baby and adult ones at the same time. They said were going to have to file them down but they said to wait and see as these problems often correct themself. Thankfully they did.

In your case I'm not sure what they can do other than file them down but you're right, I would get another opinion.

[pung-yo]

I never had the problem but a friend did, it can be corrected, but quite expensive. That dog was cutting his gums with his teeth though. I would probably get a second opinion and wait till your dog matures to see if it staightens out by itself, it often does. If your dog eats only bagged dog food, maybe he won't need it, but teeth are what helps with digestion, if they didn't need them they would be born without. I feed raw, so a problem like this would be serious as my dogs do need the teeth.

[Shannon]

Normally, I would have just gone with what the vet said, but I've noticed that his upper canine is already causing his lower one to push outward a little, and his lip gets caught on it. I'm worried that as his upper canine comes in more its going to push the other tooth out completely or enough to do damage to his lip or his gums. At least he doesn't seem bothered by it yet. Thanks for responding