# Lower canines taken out at 8 weeks?



## Aubrey (May 18, 2013)

It's called base narrow and it's pretty common in standards. Most dogs grow out of it just fine, with their adult teeth coming in correctly. There are lots of posts about it on this forum. Just search for "base narrow".

I would cancel their appointments.


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## AngelaK (Apr 25, 2014)

*Thank you*

Thank you so much for guiding me to the right place. I gave my buyers 3 options A) not to have the puppy; B) I would pay for the operation and keep the puppy till it was healed or C) to have £100 off the price in case an operation was needed. At this point the vet I had seen was saying 1) not a health issue 2) it may or may not be needed 3) the adult teeth may or may not be affected. The buyers chose the latter option, but one puppy came back as they had issues with neighbours and landlord in a rented place, plus the husband couldn't cope with a puppy. The poor lady sobbed when she gave her back, but she had taken her to a vet on my advice, pointed out the problem and the vet had said the puppy must be in pain. I know animals show pain differently, but she eats well (wet and dry food), she plays with toys and her litter mates and mother. I tried pressing gently on the area, no reaction although with a wriggly puppy I may have been in the wrong place. I am cancelling the appointment, The vet said there was no test for this, but there are no instances that I can find out about on either side of the pedigree.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Base narrow is extremely common and almost always resolves on its own. I would personally not have the teeth removed. If baby teeth are poking into the palate, many breeders will very carefully clip the tips of the teeth so that it no longer pokes into the palate.


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

One of my PWD puppies had a lower baby canine that actually made a hole in the roof of her mouth. They did not pull it. When it fell out, we watched the adult canine and it started growing in the same direction and would have hit the roof of the mouth. We took the puppy to the Univ of Illinois vet school and they put on a device in her mouth that forced the canine outward. She wore these canine braces until the canine grew enough to "lock" in position in front of upper canine. Then we took the puppy back to have the devices removed. The dog was anesthesized during the procedure.

The really bad part of this is the puppy could not be given hard toys or hard food when she had the braces on for a period of about 3 months.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

I do know that occasionally the adult teeth will come in narrow as well. I think that what often happens is that the adult teeth are narrow as they first start to come in and they generally work their way outward so that they are in the right position before they finish coming in. Most people recommend putting mild pressure a few times a day using your thumbs on the inside of the canines pushing outward. Or you can do ball therapy. I have heard that very occasionally the adult teeth will not make their way outward to the right position and in that case orthodontics or tooth removal. might be necessary.

I wouldn't bother with ball therapy or pressure with pup teeth, though. I would just clip the tip if it were me and instruct the puppy buyer to start proactively applying pressure or doing ball therapy from the minute the adult teeth start to come in.


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