Wobbly cracked tooth - actually its a retained baby tooth!

[ladybug1802]

Ever since I have had Dylan (just over a year) one of his front teeth has been cracked right down the centre (the crack is down the middle, width wise, of the tooth, so looking at him front on you cant see it). I keep an eye on it, and it has been OK, but the last couple of weeks the crack seems to have become bigger, and I just looked at it again and it is ever so slightly wobbly. It doesnt bother him, and he has still been playing with toys and eating food with no problem.

So he is going to need the tooth out, and I think i would rather get it done sooner than later, rather than leave it until it does hurt him. But its a tough one as he HATES the vet - they cant examine him properly without sedating him. So I have taken some photos of the tooth and emailed it to the vet, as there is no way in the world they could even TRY to examine his mouth....he has to have a muzzle on in the vets so that makes it impossible!

It was only a few weeks or so ago he had to go in to have his dew claq removed, now he needs to go have his tooth pulled out.....I was planning on taking him into the vets, having him on the examination table and just having the vet on one side and me on the other, as it would be normally, but just have me and the vet chat for a while, then her stroke him and then I would take him home.....as another exercise in getting him used to the vet. But next week my mum is in hospital in London for a major op so I will be up there al week and Dylan is staying witrh a friend, so i will need to get the tooth done, I imagine, sometime after that, so looks like I wont have time for my little exercise. Unless of course the vet thinks there is no rush to have it removed just yet, I think after this he wont ever like the vet!

[ladybug1802]

I sent some photos of Dylan's tooth to the vet - this is how we tend to do some of the consultation work seeing as he hates going to the vet and they cant really examine him properly unless he is sedated! It seems its not a cracked tooth - but a retained baby tooth right behind his adult tooth. So the baby tooth definitely needs to come out and he may need the adult one removed too.

So am going to the vet next Friday, basically because I wanted to just take him in there, put him on the table and chat to the vet without them trying to examine Dylan...so he gets a good experience there. The vet is going to class it as a pre-op consultation so it will be free of charge - think they are pleased I want to try and help Dylan with his dislike of it all! So she wil go through the little op and costs while me doing a bit of 'vet desensitizing' with him!

Has anyone else had a retained baby tooth with a dog? Apparantly it should have been picked up when he was neutered at the rescue centre, but it wasnt.

[Wicket]

Hey Ladybug!

I recently stumbled across this pdf from the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (ADPT) about desensitizing/counter conditioning your dog to the vet. I do sympathize about Dylan freaking out at the vet. Betsy gets shaky and is practically glued to me on the vet table while Maggie gets hyperactive and can't sit still. It's certainly not as extreme as Dylan's reaction, but I just wanted to let you know, you're not alone. I hope Dylan gets better soon!

[ladybug1802]

Oh thats great - thank you so much Wicket! I will have a read through it! Its a shame with Dylan as he is more than happy to go in the surgery - in fact he pulls towards the front door and rushed into the waiting room....its just when the vet comes to gety near him he wriggles, growls, cries.....I feel so sorry for him and wish I could tell him the vet wont hurt him and is only trying to help! He is always muzzled if the vet needs to see him...just in case....which obviously makes it impossible to look in the mouth!

[Nettle]

Retained baby tooth is very common and usually no big deal. Dylan should be fine afterwards. Hope he's okay with the vet.