Dentin Exposed

Eros

Imagine my horror when I discovered that Eros' teeth had been damaged. I did not know how he had damaged his teeth, but I was very concerned about this. A dog doing protection sports needs his teeth. The most damage appeared to be on the upper canines, teeth # 104 and 204. Other teeth had visible damage, but none of them as bad as the canine teeth. I racked my brain trying to figure out how this occurred. He does not get bones, and to my knowledge is not a chewer. It took me a while to figure out what he had been doing. The behaviour never, ever happened in front of me.

Eros had been chewing on the bars of his wire crate and pulling the crate around. Eros is housed inside an 8' X 8' chain link dog kennel inside the house, and in this kennel is a wire crate with the door removed so he could go in and out of the crate as he pleased. Well, little did I know he was using this crate to vent his frustrations. I would often find the crate moved from it's position in the kennel, but attributed this to his bad spinning habit. He spins with quite some force, a bad habit that occurs usually during exciting moments, such as food preparation or when the dogs are being moved in and out of the house. This spinning behaviour was the original reason he was moved into the 8' X 8' kennel. When he would spin in his crate, he would always spin the same way, and he would whack his tail again and again, and the tip of his tail was taking quite a beating. I had no idea the crate was being moved around by his teeth! Unfortunately for him, it did take me a while to figure this out, and by then his teeth had suffered irreparable damage. He had actually worn away the enamel on the back of his upper canines. Once enamel is gone, it is gone. I was extremely worried about his future in Schutzhund. The crate was promptly removed from his kennel and an appointment was made with board certified Veterinary Dental Specialist, Dr. Fraser Hale, DVM, FAVD, Dip AVDC. I could not take any chances with his teeth. Protection sports put an immense amount of stress on a dog's teeth, and even healthy teeth are at risk. Allowing a dog to continue on in a bite work knowing his teeth are damaged is wrong and could lead to tooth loss. All bite work was ceased and I worried endlessly waiting for our appointment. All this time I was considering other activities for Eros should the recommendation be that he discontinue bite work permanently. I blamed myself entirely for not picking up on his behaviour sooner, and felt just sick when I thought that I may be the cause of him having to quit bite work. He loved it so much, it just wasn't fair.

At our appointment, the news actually was not that bad. As it turns out, the damage to Eros' teeth is relatively minor as far a bar biters go, and because he is almost 4 years old, the dentin in his teeth has fully matured, making the teeth quite strong. Dr. Hale did not actually recommend any further diagnostics or treatment at this time. He did say that we could do full mouth radiographs just to see if there is any pathology evident that is not seen via visual exam. The added benefit of this would be that the radiographs could be repeated in a years time to compare the condition of the teeth below the gum line. I felt that full mouth radiographs were an excellent idea, and I plan to have these done as soon as possible. In the meantime, Eros has been able to return to bite work, and he is very happy about that.

Upper canine tooth #204. There is some tartar visible in the lateral aspect of the tooth near the gum line. The back part of the tooth that is a brown colour is the dentin that is exposed after the enamel has been worn away from bar biting. You can also see the damage to tooth # 308, the lower premolar on the bottom jaw that is to the right of the photo.



Tooth # 104, the upper right canine. Again tartar is visible above the gum line. The exposed dentin is visible at the back of the tooth.



Close up view of tooth #204. Here you can also see the damage to tooth # 205, the tiny premolar behind the canine.



Close up of tooth #104. Tooth # 105 does not show the same damage as tooth # 205.



Frontal view of tooth # 208, the last premolar, also known as the carnassial tooth. The brown colour is the dentin.


Frontal / side view of tooth # 108, the right carnassial tooth. The brown colour is the dentin.


Eros doing bite work... one happy dog.