Other Dental Procedures

Baby Tooth Extraction

The deciduous (baby) teeth of a dog's mouth are usually all replaced with permanent teeth by 6 months of age. Occasionally, the permanent teeth do not push out the baby teeth, but instead come in beside them. This then creates a double set of teeth which causes a malocclusion as well as a place for food particles and tartar to collect since normal teeth are never this close together. When deciduous teeth are retained, it is best to extract them.

Deciduous upper canine tooth (arrow)

After extraction of tooth

Two extracted deciduous teeth

This photo is of the lower jaw of a 6-month old miniature poodle with retained deciduous teeth. There are 7 extra teeth in the lower jaw alone and they are crowding the permanent teeth, causing them to come in abnormally. The second photo shows the same jaw after the deciduous teeth have been removed.

Abscessed Carnassial Tooth

The fourth upper premolar teeth are the largest chewing teeth in the mouth of the dog. Because they are subjected to the tremendous pressures of chewing on hard objects such as bones, they often fracture and then become infected. The most common sign that this is occurring, is the development of a swelling under the eye on the side of the infected tooth.

This dog was presented with a more unusual situation. The dog had been treated by another veterinarian for an eye infection that wasn't responding. A root of the fourth upper premolar tooth had abscessed, but instead of swelling beneath the eye, the infection was draining through the eye opening. The problem was rectified by extracting the infected tooth, providing drainage from the infected area, and placing the patient on oral antibiotics to clear up the infection.

This image depicts the fractured fourth left upper premolar tooth before it was extracted. Below, the dental technician cleans the remaining teeth.

Incisor Malocclusion (Rat)

Malocclusion of either the incisors or the molar teeth is common in both rodents and rabbits. The causes of malocclusion can include heredity, injury and infection. Since these teeth are constantly "growing", they must have normal occlusion in order to wear properly or else they can attain extremely long length resembling "tusks".

Pictured above is "Murphy" a 2 1/2 year old domestic rat with malocclusion of the incisors. When the incisors become overgrown, they will interfere with the rat's ability to eat and even penetrate the tissues of the cheek, causing infection. Rats and rabbits with malocclusion of the incisors such as Murphy, need to have the teeth trimmed back periodically. This is easily done with bone-cutting forceps and may need to be done as often as every 4 to 6 weeks.