Our question this week was:

Dr. Jon - My puppy is 4 months old, He has not lost any of his baby teeth, they are curling under and get caught on everything, and we have tried everything. Any advice?

Becky Stewart

Answer

Hi – Thanks for your email Becky. You wrote that your 4-month-old dog is not loosing his baby teeth and his teeth are curling under. Puppies loose their baby teeth and get their adult teeth until they are about 6-months-old.

I'm not sure what you mean by the teeth are curling under. Normally they get pushed out as the adult teeth come in. Some dogs will "retained" teeth (referred to as retained deciduous teeth or baby teeth), which can be a problem. When they are retained - this can cause the adult teeth to come in crooked.

Most dogs require vaccines until they are about 16-weeks of age. I'd recommend that you have your veterinarian take a look and see if they think things are progressing normally or not. You may want to discuss a referral to a veterinary dentist with your regular veterinarian.

It is hard for me to tell based on your email. For dogs that do have retained teeth, they are often removed when the pet is spayed or neutered.

A couple articles that might be helpful to you are Dealing with Retained "Baby -Teeth", Puppy Vaccine Recommendations and What is Neutering?

Best of luck!


Dr. Jon




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