Broken incisor from catching a stick mid air... what to do?

[Lotus99]

It seems we go from one thing to another!

So today, I was at a park with her, throw a stick, and she caught it in mid air... I feel so stupid. I checked out her teeth after, and half of one in the front (the incisor next to the canine tooth) has cracked diagonally. It doesn't seem to bother her when I touch it, but is there something I need to do about it? Freaking heck...

Here is a pic of what it looks like on the other side vs. the broken one.

Hoping I can leave it as is and monitor instead of visiting a dentist. You can see a little black spot in the center of the tooth, is that the root? I hear the risk is it might get infected? How would I know if that happens?
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[Sunflowers]

Red is the exposed pulp. It can get infected because bacteria can get in there and multiply. You need to see a veterinary dentist .

[KZoppa]

that requires a vet visit. thats not something you want to get infected at all.

[Lotus99]

Thanks everyone. Bummer. How quick do you have to get it looked at? Emergency situation, or a few days / week is still ok?

[jocoyn]

OTOH, I have had incisors worn to the pulp in some dogs for YEARS and never bad effectsl I think it is more of an issue with a canine but if it does get infected you would probably just pull an incisor. Thing to do would be to CALL a veterinary denist and ask.

[Lotus99]

So do you think a wait and see approach might come back and bite me? I don't mind being proactive in dealing with issues of course, just hate to go in (due to time and cost) for something that can be left alone...

[Lotus99]

So I just got off the phone with the dental vet, and this is what they said:

1 - if you're within the first 24 hours or so, you might be lucky in that the pulp isn't dead yet, and they can do a restoration type of thing by putting a pulp cap on it. Cost: $1000 to $1300!!! OMG!

2 - Down the road, do a root canal and put the cap on. Cost: $1400 to $1700!

3 - Do an extraction possibly at my regular vet's clinic, if it's simple. Cost: Don't know yet, but should be less than $1,000 I'm told.

Holy cr#p! Would have guessed this would be a $500 to $700 thing. Yikes.

They said that most of the times, if pulp is showing, it will eventually die and become absessed. Can't predict when. Could be a month or a year. I'm leaning towards leaving it as is still, but if it ever becomes absessed, will it be easy to tell for me to take her in that that point and get an extraction?

[jocoyn]

Honestly I have never had an incisor abscess. Grim's lower ones have been worn down to the pulp for years......He sheared the roots off of his upper ones on a tree and it cost me about $1200 to have the top 4 central incisors removed. ....but there was some emergency medical type stuff associated with that. A lot of bleeding and x-rays as we thought he might have fractured his palate (which he did not)

I would keep an eye on it if it were my dog and if the tooth turns brown or grey have it pulled or schedule it for being removed during some other procedure requiring anesthia.

[Lotus99]

Must have been a pretty rough scene what happened to your dog's teeth. Ouch. Guess this is part of the territory with our super driven dogs! It's all such a huge learning curve for me, this being my first dog! I remember last year after throwing the ball to her a few times on the street, to see with shock the stopper pads on her front legs and the hock area on her rear legs all bloodied up from the screeching stops she was doing!

Thank for the input. I appreciate your practical approach to this and have it planned out now what I'll do.

[Lotus99]

PS As I'm reading more on this, came across this post that doesn't give me a lot of hope, part of which says:

What To Do When A Dog Tooth Breaks - Paw Talk - Pet Forums

A tooth that has slowly worn down over time will have a brown spot that can be mistaken for a broken tooth. If the veterinarian using a dental explorer cannot find a hole in the brown spot, then the tooth is worn down and doesn't need any treatment.

When the tooth first breaks, it will bleed if the soft pulp inside is exposed. At this time the nerves in the pulp are exposed and the tooth is very painful. The nerves in the tooth slowly die over a few weeks to months; then there is no pain. The tooth can remain in this state for months or years.

Bacteria will enter the hole in the tooth and cause inflammation of the tooth root and surrounding bone. At this time the animal will again feel pain, now through the nerves in the bone. Inflammation is the body's way of rejecting the dead tooth by destroying the ligament that attaches the tooth to the bone, but this process can take years and can be very painful.

Untreated younger animals will develop an infection within two years of the break because the tooth roots are not yet sealed off; older animals may not develop an infection.