Did your puppy have an overbite since you first got him? How bad is the overbite? Are these baby teeth that are going into the gum? Or are they adult teeth that are coming in? Are any of the canines puncturing (or in danger of puncturing) the palette?

At 5 months old, if the bite isn't too bad, it may correct itself. If it's baby teeth then I would consider getting it pulled if it's going into the gums like you say, but if it's already loose then it may fall out on its own relatively soon. However, once adult teeth start coming in and the jaw isn't correcting itself I would probably just go ahead and get the "shaving" procedure done. If any of the lower canines are puncturing the palette then I would definitely get it done ASAP.

My GSD has a very bad overbite. At 10 weeks he had to get his lower canines pulled because of the trauma they were causing on his gums. At 6 months he needed to get dental work done (can't remember the name of the procedure off the top of my head).

 

Did your puppy have an overbite since you first got him? How bad is the overbite? Are these baby teeth that are going into the gum? Or are they adult teeth that are coming in? Are any of the canines puncturing (or in danger of puncturing) the palette?

At 5 months old, if the bite isn't too bad, it may correct itself. If it's baby teeth then I would consider getting it pulled if it's going into the gums like you say, but if it's already loose then it may fall out on its own relatively soon. However, once adult teeth start coming in and the jaw isn't correcting itself I would probably just go ahead and get the "shaving" procedure done. If any of the lower canines are puncturing the palette then I would definitely get it done ASAP.

My GSD has a very bad overbite. At 10 weeks he had to get his lower canines pulled because of the trauma they were causing on his gums. At 6 months he needed to get dental work done (can't remember the name of the procedure off the top of my head).

I think he probably always had it. Honestly I didn't check or notice it when I first got him (8 weeks)... but I didn't know that overbites could be a problem so didn't even think to look at it. The first time I took him to the vets (12 weeks) the vet mentioned that he had one but didn't think it would be a problem so suggested we just wait and see if it improved as he grew. I didn't really think any more of it until yesterday.

It's the adult teeth that are in danger of going into the upper palette. I think it's pretty bad judging by what my vet said. The lower canines are basically in line with upper ones... the lower canine should sit in front of the upper one when closed so they would have to move quite a long way to do that. I tried to add links to some photos of it but am not sure if they actually show anything useful.

When you say that you got dental work done at 6 months, did you get the shaving procedure done?

Does your dog have caps on the teeth and have the caps ever broken or needed re-capping?

Did you need to get root canal therapy done as part of it?


Sorry for all the questions. As I said I didn't even know this could be a problem until yesterday and am trying to find out as much as possible before I speak to the dental specialist.

Thank you for responding.

 

Yes, the "shaving" procedure (the name of which escapes me atm) is the one I did. They shaved down the lower canines and the incisors for him. I did not get his teeth capped. From what the dentist was telling me, most caps fall off in a couple years unless you go with titanium which runs into a few thousand... Right now one of his lower canines is bruised so I may have to get a root canal done.

 

Oh no, I hope your little guy is OK. I think I may have read your thread in my searches for information on overbites.

Yeah, my vet mentioned that caps often need re-doing. I wasn't aware that they cut be cut down / shaved without a cap being put on so that is good to know.

Any surgery is already looking like it will be well over a thousand so I really don't think I could afford titanium on top of that.

 

I would not do anything to those teeth. The dog's head and skull is still growing. If you correct something now you might over-correct. And it really doesn't look all that bad. I would do a wait and see approach to this. So long as your dog is eating ok. Overbites usually do not cause major problems, under-bites usually will not correct themselves. Overbites are preferable in that respect.

 

I would not do anything to those teeth. The dog's head and skull is still growing. If you correct something now you might over-correct. And it really doesn't look all that bad. I would do a wait and see approach to this. So long as your dog is eating ok. Overbites usually do not cause major problems, under-bites usually will not correct themselves. Overbites are preferable in that respect.

Thanks for your input selzer. I am really reluctant to get surgery done unless it is absolutely neccessary so it's good to hear from someone else that feels that might be a good idea. I'm still going to see the dental specialist on Friday to see her thoughts but was figuring I would put off surgery until I was 100% sure there is no other option.

It is definitely not affecting his appetite at this stage.

I don't really care whether he ever gets a 'perfect' bite as long as he is living pain free. The concern is whether the teeth are going to punch through the roof of his mouth, the adult teeth only came through fairly recently so they've still got a lot of growing to do... they already touch the top gums which is the scary part.

 

I don't want to tell you what to do. But I will tell you what I would do. I would let the puppy grow into his mouth.

 

I don't want to tell you what to do. But I will tell you what I would do. I would let the puppy grow into his mouth.

Haha!! Nicely put.

I really hope that surgery is not necessary and have been saving various threads and photos on my phone of dogs that came good on their own, just in case the specialist gets really pushy on surgery... I was going to show her them and use that as justification for holding off for a while.


I was in an absolute panic when I left the vets yesterday, within a few minutes of getting home my vet had already called back to say that he'd put the referral through and giving me the dental specialists details to make an appointment... and basically saying my only options were complete removal or a major cut back and cap which I think involves root canal.

After doing a little searching around here and other sites I calmed down a little. At least there is hope that things may sort themselves out... whether that happens or not only time will tell.

 

When Cujo was 6 weeks old, he had some cut on his head, and I rushed him to the ER, and the vet looked him over, and said, my he has a bad overbite. I freaked out. I took him to my regular vet and she looked at it and said it would probably straighten itself out. it did.

 

If the teeth are going to puncture the palette then it needs to be done, but I would hold out as long as possible. I waited with Kaiser maybe a bit too long in the futile hope it'd get better - he had a small puncture in the roof of his mouth by the time it was done. It did heal over though.

 

Get that baby tooth out of there ASAP. Both of these threads talk about base narrow canines as a result of retained baby teeth. Both (all three- including Pan) resolved on their own after the baby tooth was removed and the head/facial structure had adequate time to grow out.

http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...sues/169445-5-m-old-ollies-overbite-i-need-advice-canine-into-upper-palate.html

http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...m/health-issues/166891-base-narrow-canine-tooth-possible-localized-demodex.html

My pup had the exact same issue at 5mts and my vet recommended hacking off the lower canine. After I let her play a serious game of tug of war with my adult shepherd, her last remaining baby tooth was yanked out and it took several weeks for her adult teeth to shift back to where they were supposed to be. You would be crazy to get adult teeth shaved off before giving it some time to self-resolve. If the pup gets close to adulthood and the tooth still hasn't self-corrected, then you should consider more drastic measures as recommended by your vet.

Good luck!

 

Get that baby tooth out of there ASAP. Both of these threads talk about base narrow canines as a result of retained baby teeth. Both (all three- including Pan) resolved on their own after the baby tooth was removed and the head/facial structure had adequate time to grow out.

http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...sues/169445-5-m-old-ollies-overbite-i-need-advice-canine-into-upper-palate.html

http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...m/health-issues/166891-base-narrow-canine-tooth-possible-localized-demodex.html

My pup had the exact same issue at 5mts and my vet recommended hacking off the lower canine. After I let her play a serious game of tug of war with my adult shepherd, her last remaining baby tooth was yanked out and it took several weeks for her adult teeth to shift back to where they were supposed to be. You would be crazy to get adult teeth shaved off before giving it some time to self-resolve. If the pup gets close to adulthood and the tooth still hasn't self-corrected, then you should consider more drastic measures as recommended by your vet.

Good luck!

My vet wasn't worried about the baby tooth but I'll bring it up with the dental specialist and get her feelings on it too. The other side fell out some time in the last few days so hopefully this one goes soon too. He wrestles and plays tug with his big sister so maybe that will knock it out before Friday.

Thanks for the links, the more I read the better.


I will be giving it as much time as I can before getting anything done... but it already touches the top gum so I'm not sure how much self-correcting can happen before it starts causing problems. Argh!! I hate this, none of my other dogs have ever had teeth problems so it's not something that ever crossed my mind. I really don't want him to have to go through life without bottom canines.

 

My Malinois from the past had a bad overbite (worse than your pup) at that age but her teeth aligned beautifully without any help or fancy dental work. I would wait and see. Messing with the enamel seems iffy to me personally.
Then another pup of mine had a overbite and it never corrected. It was a good lesson for me not to be such a perfectionist. He is old now and we love him. He easily crushes MBs.

 

I was told that because of my puppy's overbite, he might need a brace. Fortunately his adult teeth and bite are perfect now, but I was worried at the time. I read lots of stuff on the 'net, and it seems (what I picked up) that the lower jaw is slower to develop than the upper jaw. I'm curious to hear what the specialist says, but I also would wait it out, unless the teeth are puncturing the gum and you have no choice.

 

This is where it is scary to just trust a vet or specialist. The thing is, they may be quicker to put you through expensive treatments because that is their job. Dogs really do develop all different. Some grow slowly. Some shoot up. Some look all awkward and come out fine. Others look awkward and stay a little awkward. How to know? You want to do what is right for you dog. I think that sometimes we think that the more expensive path has to be the best path, and if we balk at it we are somehow not being loyal to a furry charge.

Ask what will happen if you wait and see, might it get better on its own, and if it does not, will it get worse, and if it does what will be the difference if you wait until he is full-grown. I would plan on not making a decision on the spot. Take home whatever they say and sleep on it. This is not life or death, it won't matter if you wait 24 hours or 2 weeks.

 

I guess the thing is that we (most pet owners) have to trust that a trained professional vet has more knowledge about a dogs health issues than we do. I know my vet has been in practice for a long time and obviously would have looked in a lot more dogs mouths than I have.

That said, who knows whether he has recently attended a seminar on potential dental issues so is on the lookout for them, or just doesn't have a great understanding of the various growth rates of german shepherds... or maybe he's right and there really is a problem there.

In a way by referring me to the specialist he is also saying to not take his word as gospel. I will see the dental specialist and listen to what she has to say. I am hoping that she tells me to wait and see, if not then I'll take her opinion and go away and think about it.

I would hope that anyone working in the field would not recommend surgery unless it is absolutely vital.


Surgery is not something I am going to rush in to. I am aware that he is young and still growing and any surgical alteration made now is something that he is stuck with for life.


I appreciate the input from everyone, and thank you all for your responses. It's certainly given me something to think about.

 

Also, play tons of tug games with ropey toys to force the baby tooth out.

 

I trust my vets too. They tend to shy away from early surgeries on some things. They will send us to specialists, and even there surgery is not always their number 1 recommendation.

But across the board, I worry. I worry after watching I think a 60 minutes investigation, but it could have been some other similar show. They took a couple of shelter dogs with minor issues, and took them to about 13 different California veterinarians. They got some that diagnosed with the minor issue, but many diagnosed all kinds of things, some ranging from several hundred dollars worth of treatments to several thousand dollars worth of treatments.

And yet we still do have to trust them. I mean, there is the AVMA. There is all that schooling. And there is the reputation they would get if they get serious complaints.

And then there are situations where because I know the breed, or have some experience with a specific condition, and have paid attention to this board, I might have information that my vet does not have. Like pumping a slew of vaccinations at the same time into a siezure dog. I knew better. I told my dad. But he believed the vet when she said he should have them, and gave them all to him right there. And the dog suffered three days worth of totally unnecessary seizures.

We try to do the best thing for our dogs. We trust to a point, we educate ourselves as much as possible, and we pray a lot.

 

I'll admit that I do worry a bit about advice given by vets (or anyone for that matter) but I tend to be a bit a cynical in general... which is why I'm here asking questions and reading up on as much as I can before I go off to the specialist. I will take it all on board and then go away and decide for myself what I think the best option is... not that I think I have more knowledge than my vet or some of the very experienced members here... but all I can do is what I feel is right for my dog.

I honestly don't believe my vet would ever deliberately steer me in the wrong direction but everyone make mistakes and suffers from bad judgement at times so I at least attempt to do a bit of double-checking when it comes to things like surgery.



Thanks for the suggestion wolfy dog, I'll be doing all I can to make sure the baby tooth get removed by 'natural' means. It may not cause a problem but it's certainly not going to help things by still being there. I gave it a bit of a wiggle last night and it's starting to get fairly loose so with any luck it should come out soon.

 

So i've seen the specialist and she is recommending surgery, sooner rather than later. She also seems to be suggesting complete removal as the most effective method. Cutting the tooth down is guess work because she won't know exactly where it would end up or size of the tooth. Braces might work but it'd be multi-stage and cost $3000-4000 not including the reattaching every time he knocked them off... and still may not work.

She said in her experience there is almost no chance it will fix itself and guessed the odds would be less than 5%.

I knew I would be dissapointed because there was only one answer I wanted to hear :'(

He is really reluctant to let anyone look in his mouth and she said that is because he is in pain and doesn't want us to hurt him. If he really is in pain then maybe I should get surgery as soon as possible.

I've told her that I want to think it over so she's going to email me details on my options.


What a crappy morning... I knew I wasn't going to like what she had to say. I thought waiting a while would be a good idea but I don't want him living in pain just because I don't want his teeth removed.


I don't know what to do.

 

I just looked at the pics and honestly it looks almost identical to Pan's teeth during teething. He had baby teeth that wouldn't come out, his canines overlapped instead of fit together "scissor bite", he had an overbite..... but then a few months later his bite was perfect. I'm not saying the specialist is wrong but....I often wonder if I'd seen a vet or specialist at that age what they would have told me!

This was Pan's bite at 7 months. All the puppy teeth but one were out when I took this pic, but you can still see how the adult canines are overlapping and there's still an overbite (his bottom teeth were rubbing the soft tissue on the top of his mouth). Also in the second picture you can see his last retained puppy canine. I had that pulled for free when he got his hip and elbow prelim x-rays.

I couldn't find any pics from earlier while he was still teething but it was ugly!! Teeth overlapping, jutting out every which way. I was scared but most people on this forum said just let him go through the process before doing anything drastic. As I said, by the time he was a year old all of his teeth lined up and he had a scissor bite. I've even shown him twice and he got SG ratings (highest possible rating for his age) both times with no negative comments about his teeth (meaning they are correct, if they weren't it would have come up). He has dental notations from an SV and USCA judge.

 

Hope you don't mind but I actually showed the specialist those exact photos as an example of one that came good by itself. She had a good look at them but says that the angle Pan's lower canines were coming through was kind of aimed at the gap where my pups aren't.

I'm no expert but I think they look very similar.

It's really hard to know what to do. I am really against putting him through surgery... but would hate myself for leaving him in pain if it doesn't come good.

She suggested that while i wait i teach him to hold something in his mouth so that he's not in pain, and any growth can happen without the canines being jammed. He doesn't like holding things in his mouth outside of games though so i don't think i can do anything there.

 

She suggested that while i wait i teach him to hold something in his mouth so that he's not in pain, and any growth can happen without the canines being jammed.

I did something similar - I was giving my puppy so many knuckle bones it wasn't funny. I mean, really probably, *too many* lol. But I was hoping that the constant gnawing on them would make the teeth align themselves.

I'm sorry that you're in this position. That was nice of her to offer the 2 week follow-up. Fingers crossed that your pup makes a great case study!

 

Essentially what needs to happen is that baby tooth needs to come out so that the top adult canine can have the room to shift back and the lower canine can push forward.

Again, I won't say your vet is wrong but I question anyone who says grinding down and capping a five month old puppy's lower canine is the best option at this point (especially when all the baby teeth haven't even fallen out yet). If that wasn't raising red flags for you too, I don't know that you would be on a web forum asking for advice/ input/ experience.

Ultimately you will do what your most comfortable with and if you trust the opinion of a licensed vet over us random people on the Internet who tell you to hold out and reevaluate in a month or two, then that's fine. No one is going to judge you for doing what YOU feel is best for your pup. But I guess what I'm getting at is there is more than enough reason to wait it out since we've given you more than 5% of real-world instances where this type of malocclusion has self corrected with time.

 

I am sorry you are having to make this decision. For fear that someone might claim I am anti-vet I am not going to suggest anything more. It is your dog and you have to decide whether your puppy is actually in pain (more pain than teething often causes) and what is best for him as you will have to live with the outcome of your decision.

Please keep us updated. I hope for the best for your little guy.

 

I am sorry you are having to make this decision. For fear that someone might claim I am anti-vet I am not going to suggest anything more. It is your dog and you have to decide whether your puppy is actually in pain (more pain than teething often causes) and what is best for him as you will have to live with the outcome of your decision.

Please keep us updated. I hope for the best for your little guy.

Please don't hold back on giving your thoughts because you're worried how people will look at it, and I hope I never gave the impression I felt you were just anti-vet because I certainly never intended it that way.

You are exactly the type of person I really appreciate feedback from. Ultimately whatever action I take (or don't) is my decision and no blame will ever be placed on anyone because I chose to follow their advice.

I am trying trying to make a balanced decision so the more I hear from any point of view, the better.

 

I agree that the baby tooth does need to go but the other side without baby tooth is off as well. I'll add photos of that side soon.

I did tell her that I wanted to hold off for a while to see what happens. She has offered a free catch up in a week or two if I want her opinion on whether there has been any improvement. I think that's pretty good of her.

I would love to wait until everything stops growing before a decision is made... but if it doesn't improve quickly it will punch holes through the roof of his mouth and possibly ruin his upper canines as well.

And yes, it would seem to be better than 5% judging by the threads and comments I have seen... But I don't know if those cases are all actually the same situation/severity or just look the same to my untrained eye.

Yes, I am looking for input from anyone that has any experience with this... whether that is because I don't completely trust the vets and specialists advice, or just because I am so against surgery at this age, I honestly don't know.

 

Na, not you, it is nothing that you wrote.

I really have just the one situation where the ER vet said the dog had an overbite, and my regular vet was not concerned and said let's wait and see. His mouth never gave him any problems. That does not mean the same will be true for your puppy.

A puppy buyer of mine took her pup to the vet and they found a heart murmur. First time that every happened to me. I had that pup to the vet 2 or 3 times for shots, and they never found a murmur. Her vet told her to return the puppy, considering all the trouble she had with her last dog. I said ok, or I would extend her money back period so that she could see if the pup would grow out of it. She took the dog to a heart specialist and they did an EKG on it. He said all the parts were there and clean and he would probably grow out of it. Three weeks later he was given a clean bill of health and they told the owner that she can do whatever she liked with him. She loves the dog, and I have gone to his obedience graduation, and then trained with him at my trainers. She is glad she did not jump on what her vet told her to do.

But every situation is so totally different. I do not want to encourage you to wait if it might cause more of a problem, however much I doubt that it will. I do not know if two weeks is long enough to see enough change in his mouth. It seems like GSDs grow sometimes 1 part at a time. Cujo, for example, his ears and tail would grown, then the rest of him would catch up, and then his ears and tail would grow again.

It is always possible that while the specialist might be experienced with dogs in general, she may not be totally experienced in GSDs and how they grow. Maybe. And, if she has performed surgeries at a young age, then she would have no idea how that dog would turn out without a surgery. How many people are going to go back 2 years later? I really don't know.

How did this person come up with 5%?

 

The 5% figure was a guess. I can't remember the exact wording used but it was in response to me asking whether she thought there was any chance at all of it coming good on its own (and showing examples of dogs who did, like Pan)... she said something like, in her experience or opinion it was very unlikely to grow into place and if she had to guess she would give it a 5% or less chance of happening.

Now, I am sure that dogs that have had their canines removed can live happy, healthy lives and obviously working in the field she does, she would see the worst case results of things like this going untreated (teeth punching through the roof of the mouth into the nasal cavity, infections etc.) so maybe she takes a safety first approach with it. If she told someone that it might fix itself and the owner didn't keep an eye on it which resulted in a worst case scenario, maybe it would look bad on her if the owner started going around telling everyone that she had told them to leave it and see if it got better... I don't know if that even crosses her mind, I am purely speculating here.

Agreed that once a dog has had teeth removed or cut down you will never know whether things would have got better on their own. That is what I am worried about - if I get surgery without being 100% sure it's the only option, I will always be questioning whether I did the right thing. On the other hand if things get worse and he is in pain, I'd hate to think that he is suffering because I can't make my mind up with what to do. He really doesn't seem to be in pain... but he lets me examine everything on him except the mouth which he is reluctant to show... maybe that's just him but my other dog happily lets me play around in her mouth - well I don't know how happy she is about it but she lets me without complaining. So maybe the mouth is hurting?

Also agree with them growing bits at a time, he has been going through short and stocky to long and gangly with over-sized ears etc. Maybe the jaw is just a bit behind... or maybe it's a problem, my normal vet did point out the overbite at 12 weeks so it's possible that he'll always have it.


The 2 weeks for a free follow up was just something she threw out there when she could see that I was planning on waiting to see if it gets better. If it's not causing more of a problem in 2 weeks I certainly won't be rushing in to get my free check up and make my mind up then. Obviously I don't like spending the money involved with seeing specialists but I think his teeth are more important than $160 a visit + whatever surgery costs may be involved.


My parents have a cat that has had things like heart murmurs picked up and he is still fine. At one stage they were told that he had a soaring white blood cell count after surgery to remove half an ear due to cancer, apparently the cell count was multiplying at such a rate that they were told he only had days to live... that was 2-3 years ago and he's still kicking on strong and healthy (with a normal cell count). The vets couldn't explain what happened just said that they were extremly glad to be wrong in that case.


The specialist gives seminars to vets here about dental issues and said that she would love to be proven wrong and have it grow out itself. She said if that happened she would use him as a case study... she just doesn't think it's going to happen.

Ahhh.. I'm rambling and still no closer to an answer... I'm off to see what else I can find out about overbites.

 

I don't mind at all. I just wish I'd taken pictures earlier on when he was 5-6 months, but everyone said "don't even LOOK at his teeth right now or you will panic!" because they get so wonky at this age. So I tried hard to just ignore them until all the adult teeth came in. At that point I was still worried but everyone said give it a month or two and sure enough, it all got sorted out on its own.

One thing tons of people told me was that the lower jaw develops slower, so it's very common if not normal for the GSD puppies to have overbites, sometimes quite severe, while they are still teething and developing. I don't think the angle of Pan's adult teeth change, but his lower jaw finally developed out so everything "fit".

 

I have read numerous articles and posts that mention the lower jaw growing slower in german shepherds so am really hoping that is making things look worse than they really are.

As for her comments on Pan's photos... well... not trying to doubt the specialist because she obviously has a great deal of knowledge on doggy dentistry but she was shown the photos already knowing that the dogs teeth came good on their own, so it's not like she could turn around and say that they wouldn't turn out ok without surgery.

Re-reading the post from the specialist.....I don't know, like Sue says I'm not inclined to disagree with a specialist but...if they are recommending "removal" then what is the harm in waiting? What are they removing? Puppy teeth? Adult teeth? I guess personally I would be waiting until the puppy teeth are out and see where the adult teeth want to come in. 5 months is really young. Pan had a retained puppy tooth and I didn't have it removed until 7 months and even then I had people saying to wait and let it fall out on its own.

She's talking about removing the bottom adult canines. The harm with leaving them in is a few things -

1. the pain that he in (I really can't tell if he is or not, his behaviour has not changed at all - she was confident that he is).
2. the teeth punching through the roof of the mouth
3. this causing problems with the upper canines because the lower ones are pushing them out of alignment.

Another thing I just thought of....do you remember how the puppy's teeth were around 8 weeks? A few people told me that generally how their mouth looks as a baby is how it will go back to once the adult teeth are in and "settle". So if you didn't notice any problems until during teething, it's possible there won't be any problems.

Whatever you decide, keep us updated. I'm curious to see what happens.

I didn't really look when he was 8 weeks old, I wasn't aware that these problems existed so unfortunately never really checked. I am sure if I ask the breeders if they checked they will say they did... but they know that I am going through this at the moment so the answer would be yes regardless of whether they actually had or not. They have been breeding down this line of females for at least 4 generations and have never had any other problems so I don't blame them if they haven't made a habit of giving the teeth a thorough check before selling the pups.

The first mention of a potential problem was my normal vet at 12 weeks of age when he mentioned that he had an overbite. At that stage he didn't expect it to be a problem and said to just see if things improved with age.

 

My worry would be if you start to interfere at this young age and the jaw continues to develop that you end up worse than when you started, possibly preventing the self correction of his jaw and bite.
5% is still a chance.
As long as you can get enough food in him to grow up healthy I would wait a few more months, unless you see injury in his upper jaw.

 

I tend to agree with this. It's really hard to know what to do, if I take any corrective action now it's kind of guess work with how the teeth will end up on their own. This was something she mentioned when talking about cutting the teeth down and capping them - how do you know how far down the teeth would need to be cut? Apparently shaving would not be an option because dogs only have 1mm of enamel and any lower than that requires capping because you are into some kind of porous material.

I did something similar - I was giving my puppy so many knuckle bones it wasn't funny. I mean, really probably, *too many* lol. But I was hoping that the constant gnawing on them would make the teeth align themselves.

I'm sorry that you're in this position. That was nice of her to offer the 2 week follow-up. Fingers crossed that your pup makes a great case study!

Thanks. Yep, the best possible outcome will result in the case study.

Your method sounds similar to the ball/massage theory. Apparently the dog biting down on a ball enough can help push the teeth out a bit.

 

Re-reading the post from the specialist.....I don't know, like Sue says I'm not inclined to disagree with a specialist but...if they are recommending "removal" then what is the harm in waiting? What are they removing? Puppy teeth? Adult teeth? I guess personally I would be waiting until the puppy teeth are out and see where the adult teeth want to come in. 5 months is really young. Pan had a retained puppy tooth and I didn't have it removed until 7 months and even then I had people saying to wait and let it fall out on its own.