Mary Allen
Like children, pets are born toothless at first. At the age of 4 weeks, the incisors in dogs and cats breakthrough. The first incisors change at the age of 12-14 weeks. After that, the first premolars and canines change. With the change of fangs at about 5-6 months, the change of teeth is complete. The growing permanent tooth slowly dissolves the root of the milk tooth and uses the broken-down material. Eventually, the rootless tooth falls out. So the rumor persists that milk teeth have no roots.
Dentition disorders are rare in cats. However, they are very common in dogs – and especially in small breeds such as dachshunds, small terriers, and poodles. The pictures on the right show a small dachshund bitch. With her, the permanent canines come in both the lower and upper jaws, without the milk teeth have fallen out. The right maxillary deciduous canine pictured had a 9 mm long crown. After tooth extraction, the root turned out to be 13 mm long. It hadn’t regressed, so the tooth couldn’t fall out.
Since the permanent teeth in the lower jaw had to move in the direction of the tongue and the canines in the upper jaw had to move forward, a misaligned tooth was created in both jaws with the tips of the lower jaw canines shifted toward the tongue and far too little space between the incisors and canines in the upper jaw. As a result, the canines of the lower jaw hit the mucous membrane of the palate when the fangs were closed.
If these teeth are not pulled quickly, the consequences of this tooth change disorder become apparent within a short time. The misaligned teeth cause bites in the palate that reach far into the bone and can cause severe inflammation.
If a misalignment of the permanent teeth is to be feared, early extraction of the deciduous canines and, if necessary, orthodontic treatment in these dogs will restore fully normal dentition with optimal function. The sooner the treatment begins, the less discomfort there is for the dog and the effort for the owner.
The cause of the disease is a resorption disorder of the milk tooth roots, treatment can be carried out by tooth extraction with subsequent painless orthodontic treatment. Treatment should start early: Ideally, extraction is done immediately after it is clear that deciduous and permanent teeth are present together. The orthodontic treatment can begin after the extraction wound has healed, usually 2 weeks later, i.e. usually in the 5th month of life. For most animals, treatment lasts between 1 and 6 weeks.