retained baby tooth

[Rubysmum]

i took ruby today for a check up as shes had colitis . shes getting over that but the vet noticed she has a baby tooth still in -one of the fang ones which i had thought was just a tooth at an odd angle ..... she said it need s to come out and to phone up next week when sheis fully better to make an appointment this will mean a general wont it ? i feel its been one thing after another for her ( shes just had an anal gland abcess followed shortly by this colitis .. dont really want her to have a general if its not necessary but reading up on this it seems it can cause lots of problems so dont see a way out . anyone have experience of this in a dog and have it removed? aargghh cannot believe it poor ruby not to mention my purse strings not that that matters i just hated seeing her after her spaying she wasnt good at all thanks for ANY advice or thoughts my fellow dog lovers

[renate]

if she is older than ½ year, the retained tooth will probably not fall out by itself.
it may brake off, and the retained root will sooner or later (often much later) cause an abscess to form. very painful, rather expensive to treat (operation).

beans had e retained baby fang, which was pulled when she was 6 months. general anaesthesia is def. needed. i watched the dentist perform the op, and it did not look like something to be undertaken without a general.
the root was 3 times longer than the tooth itself.....

it did not take very long, so the duration of the anaesthesia is relatively short.

all the best for your little darling

[Jasper and Holly]

My two had the taken out when they were desexed. I was told they can cause problems later. I would definitely consider pet insurance if you don't already have it. This breed can have a lot of problems, it can be expensive but well worth it. I use Pet Plan they cover for life.

[jasperpaw]

I had this problem with with my 9 month year old. I noticed he had a retained fang tooth when he was about 6 - 7 months old, we took him to the vets and he said not to worry and it could still fall out and not to put him through the removal but to remind them about it if he ever needed anything done and they would do it then, about 2 weeks later it dropped out on it`s own.

[Margaret C]

i took ruby today for a check up as shes had colitis . shes getting over that but the vet noticed she has a baby tooth still in -one of the fang ones which i had thought was just a tooth at an odd angle ..... she said it need s to come out and to phone up next week when sheis fully better to make an appointment this will mean a general wont it ? i feel its been one thing after another for her ( shes just had an anal gland abcess followed shortly by this colitis .. dont really want her to have a general if its not necessary but reading up on this it seems it can cause lots of problems so dont see a way out . anyone have experience of this in a dog and have it removed? aargghh cannot believe it poor ruby not to mention my purse strings not that that matters i just hated seeing her after her spaying she wasnt good at all thanks for ANY advice or thoughts my fellow dog lovers

I would not want to disagree with your vet but I would not see this as something terribly urgent. Perhaps you could give Ruby a little more time to recover from her recent traumas?

I had a dog that retained his baby 'fang' behind his adult tooth until he was well over two years old. He showed no sign that it troubled him at all & it fell out by itself eventually.

I am amazed that vets are recommending removal of baby teeth when the puppy is only 9 months old.

[Karlin]

It is hard as we have no details of the case with this tooth, but I'd tend to agree with Margaret and others who say this probably is not urgent. Usually vets will have checked for this kind of thing at the time of a spay when it is easy to take the teeth out -- shame they missed it then -- but my vets forgot one time and the teeth all came out of their own accord within a month or two at around 10 months of age, no big deal.

Sometimes it may be that the retained tooth is causing some serous problems to a surrounding tooth or the gums (and hence the advice may be to deal with it right away) but I'd just give her some pizzle sticks, flat rawhide sheets -- the kind of hard chew that helps those retained teeth to come out on their own. I sure wouldn't do a GA just for a single tooth!

[Rubysmum]

phew thanks for those reassuring words , i dont think its urgent , the vet just happened to check rubys gums at her check up and went oooh theres a baby tooth make an appointment when shes fully better we will sort it .. i was thinking noooo waaayyyy is she being put under just yet after all shes been through. will keep a close eye on it and check the gum doesnt start to look sore , and play lots of games with her try and wiggle it loose