# Weird teeth



## Cooperpoo (Jan 20, 2020)

My poodle is 9 months old. He has two teethe that look discolored. I’ve taken him to the vet and they don’t have an answer for me. His breath has started to stink pretty bad too. These are brand new teeth and shouldn’t be like this. Any ideas?


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Ouch. Poor poodle. That looks painful 

Did the vet recommend an extraction? Or at least x-rays? Maybe that would provide more insight. Or a visit to a canine dental specialist?

I learned from my mini mix to NOT mess around with dental issues. And that they don't always make sense.

Gracie got a clean bill of health from the vet—they even complimented her teeth. And then the next year she abruptly declined and I thought I was going to lose her. But my vet traced her symptoms to a cracked tooth (not visible to my eyes) and suggested we put her under to extract it. Well....they ended up pulling something like a DOZEN. And my dog was like a puppy again. She'd been suffering silently for a lonnnng time.

Never did figure out why they decayed so rapidly.


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## Starvt (Nov 5, 2019)

Am I seeing this correctly? His top/upper canine tooth fits behind his lower canine, but he also has a slight overbite (the top incisors (front teeth) slightly overlap the lower incisors. And the stained tooth, is that one of his incisors? Or a leftover baby tooth? How many of the small front teeth does he have on the top! There should be six. That stained tooth also looks like it has some gingivitis around it.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

I can only say that that doesn't look right at all and it's hard to believe that a vet can't give some idea of what the problem is or what to do. 

Without knowing whether those are all adult teeth or still a mix of baby and adult, several things are not right. 

1/ the discoloration of that upper tooth
2/ the red and inflamed area at the gumline of that tooth
3/ the bottom canine? tooth apparently seating itself into the upper gumline

If these are all adult teeth they're not positioned correctly. That'll cause a pain and eating problems. Properly positioned adult teeth all fit together sort of like gears.











I don't have any good tooth shots of either of my boys at that same age, but here's Remo today, full adult teeth.


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## Cooperpoo (Jan 20, 2020)

Starvt said:


> Am I seeing this correctly? His top/upper canine tooth fits behind his lower canine, but he also has a slight overbite (the top incisors (front teeth) slightly overlap the lower incisors. And the stained tooth, is that one of his incisors? Or a leftover baby tooth? How many of the small front teeth does he have on the top! There should be six. That stained tooth also looks like it has some gingivitis around it.


Yes! You are seeing it correctly. No it is not a left over baby tooth. The tooth is only a few months old like the others that are sparkling white. He’s only 8 months old and shouldn’t have gingivitis yet ?‍♀ But somehow. I just looked and he has 4 small teeth on top then the two that are stained (same one on both sides)


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## Cooperpoo (Jan 20, 2020)

Rose n Poos said:


> I can only say that that doesn't look right at all and it's hard to believe that a vet can't give some idea of what the problem is or what to do.
> 
> Without knowing whether those are all adult teeth or still a mix of baby and adult, several things are not right.
> 
> ...


Yes they are all adult teeth! ?? I don’t know what we are going to do! This is my first poodle. Are teeth a common issue with them?


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## Starvt (Nov 5, 2019)

I'm wondering if the lower canine is putting pressure on that incisor and damaging it, causing it to be inflamed and discolored. It does look like that incisor is positioned not forward enough. Has he been neutered yet/ will he be soon? If he will be going under anesthetic anyway I would ask them to probe and look more closely at them at that point. Those two incisors might need to be pulled.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

I wouldn't call dental issues common in poodles but they're not rare either. That's why I was surprised that the vet seemed to not know what was going on here. Whether poodle or another breed, the vet should know a dental problem when it's presented. 

I'm not trying to shake your confidence in your vet, but I would seek another opinion. Starvt works with vets and knows their stuff. I don't, but have worked peripherally in the human medical field for over 40 years. Many human and canine medical issues are very similar. I'm not saying your pup is even close to a more serious issue but last I looked, there is also a link between dental issues and heart issues for humans and dogs.

You don't want to wait this out. Find someone who can tell you what's going on and what needs to be done. It may not need be done urgently but you're going to need to plan. 

Starvt mentioned taking care of the teeth when doing a neuter. That's to keep your pup from going under anesthesia two different times. If your pup is a standard, it's earlier than now recommended for a neuter. The current science supports waiting til physical maturity, with good reason. For a standard that's 18-24m. If a toy or mini, they reach physical maturity earlier, so 8-9m would be a reasonable minimum.


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## Raindrops (Mar 24, 2019)

I just compared your photos with my poodle's mouth. I agree with Starvt and Rose n Poos. It looks like that discolored incisor is positioned oddly, which in turn has caused the lower canine to dig into the root of it, causing infection and tooth decay/death. My guess is it will have to be pulled. I am surprised your vet was inexperienced with this. Tooth misplacement is common enough in dogs that most vets should have seen plenty of it.


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## Fenris-wolf (Apr 17, 2018)

I agree with Starvt, rose n poos, and raindrops. Is there another vet you could see?


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## Cooperpoo (Jan 20, 2020)

Rose n Poos said:


> I wouldn't call dental issues common in poodles but they're not rare either. That's why I was surprised that the vet seemed to not know what was going on here. Whether poodle or another breed, the vet should know a dental problem when it's presented.
> 
> I'm not trying to shake your confidence in your vet, but I would seek another opinion. Starvt works with vets and knows their stuff. I don't, but have worked peripherally in the human medical field for over 40 years. Many human and canine medical issues are very similar. I'm not saying your pup is even close to a more serious issue but last I looked, there is also a link between dental issues and heart issues for humans and dogs.
> 
> ...


Thank you guys so much for all the input! Yes I plan on waiting a little while longer before I neuter him. So not sure I should wait that long. To get them to look into it more!
Would you think having them pulled would effect his ability to eat dramatically?


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## Cooperpoo (Jan 20, 2020)

Raindrops said:


> I just compared your photos with my poodle's mouth. I agree with Starvt and Rose n Poos. It looks like that discolored incisor is positioned oddly, which in turn has caused the lower canine to dig into the root of it, causing infection and tooth decay/death. My guess is it will have to be pulled. I am surprised your vet was inexperienced with this. Tooth misplacement is common enough in dogs that most vets should have seen plenty of it.


His breath stinks really bad too! So that would make sense! Maybe I need to find another vet for this issue! Thanks!!


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## Raindrops (Mar 24, 2019)

Cooperpoo said:


> Would you think having them pulled would effect his ability to eat dramatically?


Nope! He will eat just fine. In fact, it is probably causing him pain, so he will likely be much better at chewing after it is removed. It is very common for dogs to be missing teeth and they do just fine.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

Cooperpoo said:


> Thank you guys so much for all the input! Yes I plan on waiting a little while longer before I neuter him. So not sure I should wait that long. To get them to look into it more!
> Would you think having them pulled would effect his ability to eat dramatically?


Don't wait much longer to get answers. I'd maybe call your vet first and ask exactly what was entered on your pup's chart about the teeth. If you get the same "just can't say" response, or there's nothing entered, then insist on x-rays, or look for someone else who can see him and give a diagnosis and a plan.

Once you have a diagnosis, you'll know if it can wait til you decide to do the neuter. If you're considering a low cost neuter clinic, then the dental work will likely need to be done separately at a regular vet since those clinics don't usually do combined procedures.

As Raindrops said, if he needs a tooth or 2 extracted, after a day or so, he'll be eating normally and likely better, since it won't hurt anymore.

Is Cooper your boy's name?


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

I'm late to this thread, but I agree that a 2nd opinion is called for asap. I wouldn't wait to neuter him. If he needs to go under to clean or extract, I wouldn't wait. You'll have to do it twice, that's all. That his breath smells so badly is an indication of an infection brewing. I'm flabbergasted that the vet didn't know what to do. Find another vet. Get this taken care of asap. I wish you all the best. Do keep us posted. Gingivitis can cause heart and chronic kidney disease and damage. Don't wait to find out what is going on from a vet who knows. Maybe get some references.


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## Raindrops (Mar 24, 2019)

If it were my dog, I'd address the tooth now and wait for the neuter, but that's up to you. If he were 12 months I might do both. The tooth looks pretty bad. When mine was teething some of his teeth took a while to come out, and they got really nasty underneath. So nasty that him mouthing my hands gave me some terrible looking skin rashes! I pulled them out myself at that point. But they were loose baby teeth. Vets often don't know everything. My dog had a retained baby incisor that didn't fall out til about 8 months. I asked a vet (not my preferred vet) about it and he was convinced it wasn't a tooth, just a sore from him hitting the roof of his mouth with a tooth. Well, it wasn't a sore.


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## Starvt (Nov 5, 2019)

He (and you) won't miss those two teeth if they do need to be pulled. And they are the easiest ones to extract, it would heal up pretty quick.
Depending on where you live, there are dental specialists that you could see. If that is not available to you, you should find a vet that has the ability to do dental x-rays for the second opinion. It uses a different machine/ system than normal x-rays. They might not be necessary, if the vet can get a good assessment from examining, but it's a sign that they likely do enough dental work that they should be able to figure out what's going on with him and what the best course of action would be.


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## Cooperpoo (Jan 20, 2020)

O


Raindrops said:


> If it were my dog, I'd address the tooth now and wait for the neuter, but that's up to you. If he were 12 months I might do both. The tooth looks pretty bad. When mine was teething some of his teeth took a while to come out, and they got really nasty underneath. So nasty that him mouthing my hands gave me some terrible looking skin rashes! I pulled them out myself at that point. But they were loose baby teeth. Vets often don't know everything. My dog had a retained baby incisor that didn't fall out til about 8 months. I asked a vet (not my preferred vet) about it and he was convinced it wasn't a tooth, just a sore from him hitting the roof of his mouth with a tooth. Well, it wasn't a sore.


oh wow! That is crazy! I went to see a different vet today and he didn’t seem worried about it very much. He said it could wait till he got neutered a little later down the road. He touched them and cooper doesn’t seem to be in any pain with them so he thought that was a good sign. And he said there is a little tartar build up on the back teeth that could be contributing to his bad breath..... I’m not convinced with his diagnosis either. I have pet insurance so I’d prefer for a vet to say he needs xrays so that it will cover a portion of them but if not i plan on doing what I need to do. I’m going to try to get in next week with a friend of mines vet. We’ll see ??. Thank you everyone for all of the feedback! This forum is so helpful!! ?


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

I would recommend shaving your pup's face, or at the very least the hair around his lips. In the photo, the area below his lips, on his lower jaw, looks "gunky". This can sometimes harbor bacteria/yeast and it does stink. By giving his face a trim, you could eliminate that lip area as a contributing factor. Good luck to you with the dental issues.


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## Cooperpoo (Jan 20, 2020)

Charmed said:


> I would recommend shaving your pup's face, or at the very least the hair around his lips. In the photo, the area below his lips, on his lower jaw, looks "gunky". This can sometimes harbor bacteria/yeast and it does stink. By giving his face a trim, you could eliminate that lip area as a contributing factor. Good luck to you with the dental issues.


Thanks! I will give that a try!


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

Cooperpoo said:


> O
> 
> oh wow! That is crazy! I went to see a different vet today and he didn’t seem worried about it very much. He said it could wait till he got neutered a little later down the road. He touched them and cooper doesn’t seem to be in any pain with them so he thought that was a good sign. And he said there is a little tartar build up on the back teeth that could be contributing to his bad breath..... I’m not convinced with his diagnosis either. I have pet insurance so I’d prefer for a vet to say he needs xrays so that it will cover a portion of them but if not i plan on doing what I need to do. I’m going to try to get in next week with a friend of mines vet. We’ll see ??. Thank you everyone for all of the feedback! This forum is so helpful!! ?


Hi, 

What did the second vet say it is? Was it the same as the first vet? Is it a retained baby tooth, an infected adult tooth, something else entirely? 

It should be reassuring that 2 vets say it's nothing to worry about, but that photo seems to tell a different story. 

Let me also say, Good on you! for having insurance. Keep in touch with what you find out or decide to do.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

I'm honestly baffled by these responses from your vets. The inflammation along the gumline looks very painful 

This might be a weird question, but....did you show them the photo you posted here? It might actually give them a better view of the issue.

Our vet readily accepts emailed photos if I have questions or concerns. Yours might, too!


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

I've seen older dogs where all their teeth look like that or worse...much worse. So it may be that the vets aren't that concerned that it's an immediate problem since perhaps the vets think it's not even approaching an _advanced_ stage of ginivitis yet. And the plaque can be removed down the road a little. It's just strange to us that it's just the one tooth and all the rest are fine. I guess I'd try brushing or get some of that spray stuff that might help a little. I totally agree with shaving the face and getting the hair on the flews (the little skin fold by the bottom lip hides hair)...pull the lips back tautly and get right in there. Is your dog use to being shaved? that gunky stuff can definitely attract bacteria and maybe contribute to the smell.


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## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

This really looks like it is something that needs care. Weird that the vets said not to worry about it. Hope your friend's vet can give you some real insight as to what is going on here.


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