Flared Out Teeth

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kristynron

Forums Regular
Hi all. My girl, Mattie, has some kind of issue with her teeth. She is a retired champion and is 6 years old. Her teeth are very prominent and it appears that the bottom teeth are flaring out. I talked to the former owner and she said that it was never apparent when she was younger. Obviously not since she won her championship. She started noticing it about a year or maybe a little more ago. She never said anything about her teeth when we got her. I just spoke with her and asked her if she ever talked to her vet about them and she said no. My vet has stated that they should be x-rayed to check for disease below the gum line. The former owner says, "no way" that there is any disease as she is a retired dental hygienist. Has anyone out there ever seen this or have any ideas about it? Her teeth are no longer straight up and down. They stick out and I'm afraid that they are going to totally lay down. I'm pretty bummed about all of this. We have only had Mattie since January and we certainly didn't think there were going to be dental issues this early in the ownership. Of course we have fallen in love with her. She is awesome. I just need to know what we're faced with. Thanks to all that might respond.
 
could you post some pix?
might be useful for the vets/dental experts on the forums.....
I haven't seen anything like that or heard of anything like that.
 
Dental xrays are the way to tell what's going on under the gum line. Teeth can look just fine upon exam but xrays show the whole story and obviously something is wrong if her teeth are flaring that much. Best get her in to get them xrayed and if needed, extracted. Might not be as bad as you think.:yes: No offense to the previous owner, but I think a dental hygienist would know better then that...
 
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I asked my husband, who is a dentist, and here is his response:

As far as people's teeth are concerned, a little shifting is common in teeth as you age. However, if the movement is as prominent as you say it is, I would get the x-rays. A "disease below the gum line" (ie periodontal disease, which is a chronic loss of the bone and support structure of the tooth) wouldn't make the teeth move that radically, but something like a growing cyst or tumor could. Better safe than sorry.
 
Thanks everyone for your input. I will try and get pictures after work on Friday and post them.

Ashley thanks for responding, I meant to stay in touch but I have had some health issues and have been preoccupied. Would you mind asking your hubby a question for me? If I take Mattie to our vet do they have to have special dental x-ray equipment to take the pictures? I'm assuming they have the right equipment since they do cleaning and all of that. I'm not very well informed about the dental aspects of dog ownership and I should know more. All I know is that the former owner told me, after we bought Mattie, that she would have kept her and shown her as a senior but with her teeth the way they are it wouldn't have been feasible. That was the first I knew that there was any kind of issue. We just took her to our vet for the first time since we got her at the end of January as she needed her rabies shot. My hubby asked the vet about her teeth and she also recommended doing x-rays. I'm still going to post the pictures but it's looking like we will need to get the x-rays done. Thanks everyone.
 
Yes, they do have the proper equipment for x-rays. We had to take Bentley in recently for some dental work so I know they do :)
 
is it her K-9's that have shifted? Or the incisors(tiny row of teeth in the front between the k-9s)? Ive seen some pretty funky shifting with incisors especially if they are chewers.
 
Lightplum it is the small teeth, not the canines that have moved. I am at work so can't post pics today. Tonight is obedience class. She was never taught basic commands so we are working on that, so no time tonight either. The former owner said her teeth were never closely spaced. I just pray it isnt anything serious.
 
Well I managed to find a few minutes to take some pictures of Mattie's teeth. You will have to go to Flicker to see them. In the pictures where her mouth is closed....her teeth always show. She can't close her mouth over her teeth so it looks like her mouth is always open to some degree. Here is the link to see the pictures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9545912@N05/

She doesn't act like anything hurts or bothers her. She eats like a horse and we've actually put her on a diet since she was just spayed in January and has put on some weight. Anyway....if you care to look and share your thoughts it would be greatly appreciated.
 
hmm looks more of a bite issue than anything. Id bet when she was loosing her baby teeth she probably lost them all at once and she didnt get in enough of the adult teeth to hold everything in place. Shes missing quite a few incisors so im wondering if that also threw the bite off.

I cant find the pic im thinking of showing it...heres a general though..
 
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