Sometimes puppies have trouble losing their puppy teeth, especially those sharp, little pointy canine (fang) teeth.

Puppies start the teething process (where they lose their baby (deciduous) teeth and the adult teeth come in) at about three and a half to four months of age. They are usually finished when they’re adult canine teeth come in around six to seven months. The molars and incisors are not usually an issue. But sometimes the adult canine teeth start coming in and those baby canine are still rooted in their pretty tight.

If I have a puppy that still has its sharp little baby teeth and I see the adult canines coming in, I’ll work on wiggling those baby teeth, playing tug-o-war and giving puppy things to chew on to help loosen those teeth up and get them out of there. But occasionally you’ll get someone with some stubborn, tight teeth! No matter what you try, they just won’t come out. If it’s not messing up the puppy’s mouth I might still wait a while and hope they eventually come out because the other alternative is to have your vet pull them which entails some anesthesia. Now, if you are planning on having your pup spayed or neutered around six to eight months, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Your vet can probably just pull those extra teeth while the pup is asleep from its surgery.

Right now, I have three of my pups with some dental issues. Baby Girl,  (yep, that’s her name for now) Reba’s black Poodle pup has some retained canine teeth. They are not a problem at this point so I will continue to do my wiggling, playing and letting her chew on chewies to see if they’ll come out on their own. Aurora, our new Standard Poodle pup has one tooth that’s a little “off”; pointing in the wrong direction. It is a little loose so, at this point, I’m working on it myself. I will have the vet pull it if it doesn’t come out soon on its own, but only after she’s had a couple more of her vaccinations. And lastly, we have the snaggle-toothed tiger, Sage.

This is Sage’s right side. You can see the three large teeth and how they are puzzle-pieced together nicely. This is a normal looking bite with the two adult canine teeth, and the large incisor.

This is the left side….what a mess.

Here’s a more detailed picture.  The upper baby canine is lined up behind the upper adult canine and not too much of an issue. But if you look closely at where the lower baby canine is, you can see the adult tooth is on the inside of it and being pushed inward; not a good thing. That one little “shark” tooth is going to potentially mess up her “bite” if it isn’t removed so the adult tooth can come in correctly. And besides that, hair, food, and gunk get stuck between the two teeth and make for a smelly mouth. Yuck!

So, Sage is at the vet today having those two teeth pulled so she can have a nice, correct bite..

….and a pretty smile 😀