# Broken enamel - cavity on 6 mo puppy



## Rose DeLuca (Oct 24, 2008)

I just realized my 6 mo gsd puppy has broken brown enamel on the side of her lower k9. I thought at first it was some kind of dog gunk; but it is definetly missing enamel . It is her adult k9. Makes me just sick 

I dont know just yet what her calling will be in life yet - but it will probably involve tugging and biting of some sort. 


she is a very drivey pup; but not a rock chewer or crate biter or any of those normal teeth wrecking activities- I'm really not sure how or what happened. 

I have seen the capped k9 etc on other dogs; but can anyone share experiences regarding their dog dental problems and what I can expect or look for in a puppy this young.


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## Tom Moorcroft (Aug 27, 2008)

I unfortunately have gotten the crash course in K9 dental over the last several months. My Mal came to us last September as a rescue that was found as a stray. He was about 15 months old and the backs of all 4 canines had the enamel worn off exposing the dentin. These areas were stained light brown, but really no evidence of tartar. The lack of enamel greatly decreases the overall strength of the tooth, but, at least in his case, didn't seem to waken them enough to interfere with tugging on a tug or ball.

This past September, he had a training accident where he broke off about 1/2 of both his top two canines. He's a disaster search dog and while going to grab his reward toy he smashed his teeth into a concrete slab. He kept working like nothing had happened. The vet said we could remove both or perform root canals. I chose 2 root canals. After the root canal is performed, a composite is molded over the end of the tooth. Two weeks ago I noticed that one of the composites had chipped off completely. So in two days we're going in for the first of two dental procedures to have a metal crown made and placed. 

During the dentists initial evaluation, I asked him about the other canines, the ones that sound similar to what you're describing. He said they are weaker due to lack of enamel and that the brown was merely a cosmetic defect, a stain, in our case no tartar or other dental issue. His recommendation was to leave the lower two teeth alone and just monitor them. Actually one of the lower canines has the tip broken off (he came that way), but because there was only exposed dentin (no exposed pulp chamber) there was nothing to do now.

I understand the "makes me sick" feeling. A couple thousand dollars on the initial repair and now another one to two thousand bucks for the crown. Depending upon what the vet sees, we may need to crown the other top canine if that's chipped or may just do it to get this whole thing over with. Now my disaster search dog who's job is to find people will look like some kind of bionic dog robot thing, oh well, he's a great dog and does a super job.

Anyhow, if you have any question, seek out a veterinary dental specialist. If it is indeed only missing enamel and there's no evidence of tooth decay, you'll likely be told to monitor it and keep good dental hygiene (I'm lazy in this department so I feed raw! It's really healthy, too).

Best of luck.


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## Leslie Patterson (Mar 6, 2008)

Hi Rose

Two of my dogs have had broken teeth but with pulp exposure including my young dog you met Garak. He broke a couple of his front teeth when he was 8 months, his ball landed on a rock on the ground and he bashed his teeth off the rock when he went to grab it so quickly. They had vital pulpotomies done.
I don’t think there are very many dog dentists around, I used Dr. French at VEC www.vectoronto.com/dentistry.php
If the tooth is weak you could maybe get something like this?
www.avds-online.org/info/crowntherapy.html
You should definitely get it checked out but hopefully it will be okay to just leave alone.


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