# Lower canine tooth digging into upper gum



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

I'm sorry you're having problems that require intervention from a specialist, I hope it is easily fixed. I do not have any helpful experience, I did want to suggest that you let the breeder know what is going on, he or she should be aware of this issue in case there are any other puppies who have issues with their 'bite'. It's genetic and the breeder will not want to risk producing other puppies with similar issues. Maybe if you are polite, he or she would offer to refund you a portion of the purchase price to put toward the cost of the specialist. I wish you good luck with your puppy.


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

My parents dog has this problem, same tooth and everything. Our vet said that it is likely that the new adult tooth with grow in and the roof of the mouth will form a little dent in as a space for the tooth to go into when she closes her mouth and everything will be fine. He said that if the roof of the mouth doesn't form a nice little dent, allowing the tooth to sit nicely in there when the dog chews and closes its mouth, the options are either removing the tooth, or a type of doggy-braces. 

My parents dog is 4.5 months old, and actually just lost the tooth so they are waiting to see what happens when the adult tooth grows in. She has the little dent where the baby tooth was sitting already.

Hope this helps!


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## Our3dogs (Apr 3, 2008)

We went through something very much the same with our Corgi. He was born with a slight cleft (which fortunately did not include an opening in the roof of his mouth. As a puppy, his lower teeth were catching on the inside of the upper teeth What they did very young (after consulting with a doggie dentist) was to pull the lower center teeth between the canines so it would release his jaw. This did help tremendously with that problem. As he grew he ended up with the lower left canine poking into the upper jaw, just like yours. We knew we would be seeing a doggie dentist for the cleft repair. Prior to his surgery, she had us play with a hard rubber ball. We encouraged him to carry it in his mouth. The feeling was, since he teeth do move, it would actually help with movement. Surprisingly, over a few week period before his surgery, it did move it slightly, but not enough to take care of the problem. The dentist then planned to do a procedure during the cleft repair (can't remember what it is called), where they cut away some of the upper gum to create a small grove for the tooth to sit in on the outside of the gum. It worked very well. It gave the lower canine a place to sit in. This might be what they talk about with you. Don't let it freak you out. Yes, it requires some stitches, and a recovery period of not chewing on hard stuff that would disturb the stitches, but our 7 month old Corgi did very well with it, as well as his cleft repair - which predominately was the front gum area above his upper teeth. Good luck and keep us updated.


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## GoldieMad (Mar 10, 2006)

nolefan said:


> I'm sorry you're having problems that require intervention from a specialist, I hope it is easily fixed. I do not have any helpful experience, I did want to suggest that you let the breeder know what is going on, he or she should be aware of this issue in case there are any other puppies who have issues with their 'bite'. It's genetic and the breeder will not want to risk producing other puppies with similar issues. Maybe if you are polite, he or she would offer to refund you a portion of the purchase price to put toward the cost of the specialist. I wish you good luck with your puppy.



Thanks very much for your reply - I have in fact notified the breeder (a really nice man and wife 'team' who have won many show awards) - none of the other pups in the litter have had this problem, only mine. Even the parents didn't have any issues. I guess my pup is just unlucky.


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## GoldieMad (Mar 10, 2006)

EmmaKFricke said:


> My parents dog has this problem, same tooth and everything. Our vet said that it is likely that the new adult tooth with grow in and the roof of the mouth will form a little dent in as a space for the tooth to go into when she closes her mouth and everything will be fine. He said that if the roof of the mouth doesn't form a nice little dent, allowing the tooth to sit nicely in there when the dog chews and closes its mouth, the options are either removing the tooth, or a type of doggy-braces.
> 
> My parents dog is 4.5 months old, and actually just lost the tooth so they are waiting to see what happens when the adult tooth grows in. She has the little dent where the baby tooth was sitting already.
> 
> Hope this helps!



Thank you, that's very interesting. I wonder if that will be the case with my pup - let's hope so!



I hope that your parents dog does well.


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## GoldieMad (Mar 10, 2006)

Our3dogs said:


> We went through something very much the same with our Corgi. He was born with a slight cleft (which fortunately did not include an opening in the roof of his mouth. As a puppy, his lower teeth were catching on the inside of the upper teeth What they did very young (after consulting with a doggie dentist) was to pull the lower center teeth between the canines so it would release his jaw. This did help tremendously with that problem. As he grew he ended up with the lower left canine poking into the upper jaw, just like yours. We knew we would be seeing a doggie dentist for the cleft repair. Prior to his surgery, she had us play with a hard rubber ball. We encouraged him to carry it in his mouth. The feeling was, since he teeth do move, it would actually help with movement. Surprisingly, over a few week period before his surgery, it did move it slightly, but not enough to take care of the problem. The dentist then planned to do a procedure during the cleft repair (can't remember what it is called), where they cut away some of the upper gum to create a small grove for the tooth to sit in on the outside of the gum. It worked very well. It gave the lower canine a place to sit in. This might be what they talk about with you. Don't let it freak you out. Yes, it requires some stitches, and a recovery period of not chewing on hard stuff that would disturb the stitches, but our 7 month old Corgi did very well with it, as well as his cleft repair - which predominately was the front gum area above his upper teeth. Good luck and keep us updated.



Thanks a lot, it's very interesting that you should mention about the cleft repair as I was also thinking along the same lines of the vet dentist removing some of the upper gum. I'll report back here after my visit to see the vet next week where, if we're lucky, matters may then be satisfactorily resolved by the vet. Fingers crossed! It's great to hear that your Corgi did very well with the ops.


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## GoldieMad (Mar 10, 2006)

A bit of an update - even though I'm not due to see the vet dentist until next Monday I sent some good quality photos of my dog's teeth to him. Naturally he said that he would need to carry out a full examination to be certain of his diagnosis, but from my photos my pup apparently has a Type 2 Malocclusion. The most likely solution is for the vet to sedate my pup and bond some special material to the tips of the two lower canines - this serves to bulk them out slightly and so, over a period of two or three months, the gently rubbing of the bonding material on the outside of the gums will slowly force the canines into their correct positions. It's the same principal as having braces fitted, just carried out in a different way for different teeth. I'll discuss some other possible option with the vet next Monday after he's fully examined by pup and the procedure will be carried out that day.


I'll keep you informed as the information may be useful to some.


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## Our3dogs (Apr 3, 2008)

Sounds like the doggie-dentist already has a good plan in place. The nice thing, since your guy is still young, moving the teeth is a good option to try first. Let us know what all he says after your visit on Monday. Good luck!


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## GoldieMad (Mar 10, 2006)

Thank you. I'm apprehensive about any procedure (due to the required sedation) but he's young, fit and healthy so I hope that all will go well.


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## GoldieMad (Mar 10, 2006)

An update on this - he has now had an 'extended crown' applied to each of his lower canines. These should help to guide the teeth into their correct positions over the next two months after which he'll get a checkup and, if all looks good, the extended crowns will be removed. Fingers crossed!


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

I hope they were not as pricey as human crowns. Thanks for the report


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## GoldieMad (Mar 10, 2006)

Thankfully it wasn't horrendously expensive because the 'crowns' are made of some special material that isn't designed to stay on the teeth- it's layered onto and and slightly around the two canine teeth during the procedure where it's quickly hardened with UV light. Human crowns are different in the sense that molds are taken and a porcelain or gold crown is made up then glued in place (permanently, in theory).


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