Broken Tooth

Hinata23

Goro has a broke K9 tooth... His chin is scrapped, so I think he fell and hit his mouth pretty hard. The gum around the tooth is swollen and red (maybe bleeding a bit). Should I not worry about this and just let it fall off. The tooth's tip is broke off and split in half only leaving he front part of it still attach to the gums... If that makes any sense. I guess I should post a picture.

I googled it and people have different opinions about what to do...

Losech

This is a puppy tooth, right? If it were an adult tooth, I'd have it pulled and a replacement put in. Puppy tooth? I dunno, I'd probably ask the vet, and most likely get it pulled as well.
Two of my dogs have busted carnassial teeth, one was so bad there was only about 1/4 of the tooth left. We had it removed completely. The other just flaked a bit off the tip and has been fine since then.
But that break, I'd be very nervous about leaving it to fall out, since the pulp is exposed, and if it abscessed, that could be bad for the rest of the jaw, and very painful.

Hinata23

@losech Thank you! I'll call the vet first thing in the morning.

Heidi

Sosuke also broke a puppy tooth way back when. It looked very similar to Goro's. I showed the vet who said that since it wasn't causing him pain, it would be best to just let it fall out. I wrote about it in the Sosuke thread. I'll find it when I'm not on my phone.

Hinata23

@hondru I touched it and wiggled it a bit and it didn't seem to bother Goro. It's pretty loss, but it hasn't stopped him from chewing on stuff. I'll see if he's in pain tomorrow. Thanks

Heidi

Here's the bit about Sosuke's tooth.

I remembered it totally wrong, lol. Now I remember, though. The vet actually did want to extract it, but I thought it was better to leave it, so I did, and it fell out without any problems. The vet did agree that in all likelihood it would be just fine, and just told me to keep an eye on it. Being put under and having any kind of operation with recovery time is rough on dogs and I personally would really rather avoid putting a puppy through that, especially in their formative months. If you have to do it, then so be it, but my reaction would be to just be extra careful to keep it clean and get it pulled only if there's a problem. Maybe you could squirt some saline solution on his tooth every day? I left Sosuke's entirely alone and it never got dirty or infected, but if Goro's has a bit of swelling, then you may have to be more careful.

Incisors are the first teeth to fall out, too, so that tooth should fall out any time now.

CrimsonO2

...or yank it out via a frozen rope chew toy and a healthy game of tug of war:-).

Jesse

Hinata23

@CrimsonO2 Hahahahaha That could work! The front piece fell out from what I can see. There's only a little piece in the back left. He's been chewing on a cow hoof all morning so... I guess he's not in pain.

tjbart17

I'm with Jesse.

BradA1878

Just leave it, it'll fall out. Vet will go for the most expensive solution (like extraction).