Tell us about yourself: Adopted a young adult male Dutch Shepherd from the local animal shelter 5 months ago. Also have a smaller Australian Shepherd/Corgi mixed breed dog.
We adopted our Simba five months ago. He is about a year and a half old now. I don't know what kind of a background he came from but I suspect he was crated or kenneled A LOT and chewed on the metal. His lower tall front teeth on each side have divots or indentations where you can actually see the tooth has been worn down into a ) shape on the inside of each tooth. The tooth in this area is darker like the enamel has worn off.
I am wondering if anyone knows if any kind of dental work can be done to replace the damaged tooth in that area? My brother had a K9 in the military years ago with stainless steel teeth but I'm not sure if that's something that is done anywhere else....not sure about a DS with stainless steel fangs anyway!
I foresee that he will have problems as he gets older with these teeth and hope to avoid that. Has anyone else had any similar problems?
Odin has something similar I think if I'm understanding what you wrote correctly. He came with them like that and he's been here a year and a half without any problems. I'm leaving them for now unless something changes dramatically. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow and post it. Right now I'm driving an angry Shiba half way across the country. Well actually my husband's driving and I'm on the forums, but the Dutch are with the grandparents.
Stephanie
'Odin' NV PTA Odin of Another Kingdom RL1
'Elli' Drawing Our Own Constellations RL1 CGC CGCA
My first Dutch Shepherd had the same thing on all of his canines. It is not necessarily a sign of poor handling previously. Some of these dogs just get extra bored and prefer the wire around them over alternatives.
If the tooth is still intact, I wouldn't do anything. It is a weak spot, but unless you are doing bitework, it will probably never effect your dog. Capping the teeth was a fad for a while, and a few still do it, but often the teeth continue to break under the cap and cause more problems.
Dante's (my dog's) canines all eventually broke off at the weak spots, but we are talking 10-12 years later. The roots had since receded and he showed no signs of pain. In reality, it never even made a difference to his grip in bitework.
So I would do nothing. Allowing someone to come in and fix what is not broken is just asking for more problems. I have seen so many issues created by well meaning doctors who are excited for the opportunity to "try something" when in reality the dog is just fine as is.
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