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Should I Worry?


Eldoop
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Well I have said on another thread about Minx teeth, but now after seeing her eating/chewing (or trying too) a lamb bone with a chunck of fat on the middle of it thismorning I'm starting to get worried

At the vets two weeks ago while there I had a full check up done on everything and before we went to the vets I noticed Minx molars on both sides on her bottom jaw the one that sits under the very wide molar on the top jaw, (I hope you know the one I'm talking about ) well they have grown on an angle leaning inwards, not staright up, anyway at the vet she said it may have been because the baby tooth was in the way and hopefully as Minx grows the teeth will straighten as theres not much they can do about the teeth? well since then I've been in poor Minxy mouth almost daily having a look and I can see what has happened.... the small molar in the front has come through first, and then these bigger molars have come through and there wasn't enough room in her mouth so they have grown on an angle and leaning on a inwards angle pointing towards her tongue (but not touching her tongue or anything) but where I'm starting to worry is when looking in her mouth, these teeth dont meet the top molars, they sit just to the inside of the top teeth, not under them .... (still with me guys?) so I think this is why she is haveing trouble chewing bones and the fat off bones, my other dog crunches the bones and the fat is gone, but Minx takes hours chewing and chewing and when she had her puppy teeth she would crunch through chicken wings and you would hear the crunch, crunch, now with her adult teeth coming through she takes longer to eat a chicken wing and doesn't seem to have the crunching of the bones as much

Should I worry :laugh: or has this happened to anyone else's pup? will her teeth straighten when she is fully grown? or should I change vets? :clap:

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Hi, No her puppy teeth are gone, the vet checked for that when I mentioned the teeth, as I said, since the vet visit I've been looking in her mouth and the small molar in front has come through first, then when these bigger ones have come through there wasn't enough room to fit, so you can see they have grown at a angle to try and fit in the gap, with me now :laugh:

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could be genetic... some breeds have malocclusion in their line (where the teeth dont sit properly)

try ringing Melbourne University vet hospital and they will be able to give you specialists numbers and referrals

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Could be genetic. There are some lines of Staffords which tend to have rather scrambled teeth. There are others which have inverted canines. I'm afraid short of expensive dental surgery there probably isn't much you can do about it. Once those adult teeth come in, being permanent teeth, they're there to stay.

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There's a dog dentist at the Hallam Veterinary Clinic. Kal had a "filling" in one of hers once, by him. Couldn't tell you if good or bad, because I don't know much about dog teeth (other than to look for health issues), but perhaps others have heard of these people?

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There is a Specialist Canine Dentist, Dr Stephen Coles, at Sandringham Vet Hospital in Bluff Road, Sandringham. Stephen is also Veterinary Advisor to the Royal Melbourne Zoo and does all the dentistry on the Big Cats etc.

he was our Vet when we lived in Melbourne( would still go there if it wasn't 2hrs each way).

If you ring Directories and ask for Sandringham veterinary Hospital then you should be able to get an appointment with Stephen . he saved my old Collie's life years back when a mouth problem occured and the local Vet thought it was nothing to worry about.

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I've just noticed tonight that Minx bottom K9 teeth (I dont know what the tooth is called?) is growing straight up and if it keep going it looks like they will hit the roof of her mouth? so does anyone know if the teeth start to tilt out while they grow to sit beside the top K9 tooth????

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Staffy's are notorious for having bad mouths, as with other short nosed breeds, all those teeth just don't fit in their head!

BYB Staff's are the worst cause no-one takes any notice of the mouths of either dog and then breed them willy nilly.

My Stafford's top and bottom molars don't meet at all, at some points I would say there is a 3-4mm gap between them...and yes she has alot of trouble eating bones, so I tend to give her greenies and 4X2's biscuits which are easier to chew, and it doesn't matter so much if she swallows larger pieces.

The Hallam and Sandringham Vets would be a good start if you're especially worried, they can do orthodontics for dogs and fit plates etc., but I would be thinking about cost & trauma for the dog Vs. maybe just removing the offending teeth.

The canines could well cause ulcers to the hard palate up the top, and ulcers to the lips if they are malalligned....so it's worth talking to your Vet about.

But wait until she's 10mths or so, the teeth will move around a fair bit in puppyhood.

Cheers,

Mel.

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Thanks you Mel :laugh: My hubby had a look last night at her canines and said to wait afew weeks to see if her jaw will grow abit more with her and see if the tooth will start to tilt out and sit in place, at the moment the bottom canine tooth looks like its going to grow through the roof of her mouth and not tilt outwards to sit next to the top tooth, but as you said, I'll give it time and see how it goes...

she doesn't seem to be bothered by it yet.. :)

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Sounds like converged canines to me (as per my previous post). Common problem in Staffords and I hate to say it but it rarely corrects itself. It isn't so much a "tooth" problem as a jaw problem (botton jaw is wrong size and shape) and is hereditary.

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Her jaws meet up ok, and the other teeth look ok and top and bottom meet up, its only the lower canines that are sitting next to/and just on the inside of the top canines so if they grow forward and tilt out they will sit in the correct place, but someone else said to wait till she is 1 year old before worrying to much? :laugh:

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Sounds like inverted canines to me by your description. I'm sorry but it is a jaw problem. The bottom jaw isn't wide enough (and in some cases long enough) for the canine teeth to sit in the right position.

It is hereditary, it can be aggravated by retained baby teeth and the bad news is that there probably isn't much that can be done, short of removing the canines from the bottom jaw. Check with a canine dentist but be aware that Inverted canines are quite a big problem in Staffordshire Bull Terriers.

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