# Oh no. Broken canine tooth.



## BassetMixUp (Dec 14, 2011)

My dog broke one of his canines. My first thought is that it happened at the dog park (it was packed on Sat) or at his cage free doggy day care yesterday. But he only goes for 3 hours. Anyway, how it happened is probably moot now. It's broken, straight across horizontally and it looks like it must be painful.  But if it is, he isn't letting on. I believe it's non viable? Instead of pink pulp in the center, it's brown. But I only know what Dr. Google is telling me. Poor guy.  It couldn't have happened more than 5 days ago, most likely in the last 48 hours. He's eating as normal and taking treats happily.

Any words of wisdom? My initial search shows he'll probably need a root canal or extraction. The latter being less expensive.

If anyone has BTDT, I'd love to hear your experience and suggestions.

And I have to ask, can something like this wait until Monday? I'm guessing not but asking anyway because my 2 year old is pretty sick w a double ear infection and ruptured eardrum. If it's not an emergency, I don't want to take her out of the house tomorrow.

Too late to sign up for dog medical insurance? LOL! I was on the phone with them last week too. I had to call Home Again re: microchip subscription and agreed to listen to their spiel out of curiosity. :doh:


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

How far down is it broken? If the pulp in the center of the tooth is not exposed it might not need to come out but if it is exposed at all, personally I'd just take it out. It's a source of pain and a superhighway straight to the tooth root for bacteria. As long as he's eating it can wait until Monday to be seen, and if you're not sure if the pulp is exposed or not your vet can advise you at that time. 

Even if he's not acting painful, he probably is - IME most dogs do not act like things like broken teeth are painful but often obviously feel better after they are taken out.

ETA: If you are serious about the insurance, take out a policy before you go to the vet. The second your vet sees it, it becomes a pre-existing condition. Most policies also don't take effect immediately but have a waiting period of a week or two before benefits kick in - probably to prevent people from taking out policies for things immediately before they go to the vet to avoid problems being labeled pre-existing conditions.


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## BassetMixUp (Dec 14, 2011)

Here's the best picture he would let me get. (His chin is on the left side, upper jaw on the right.)

And I was joking about the insurance thing. I thought it was one of those great cosmic jokes - I listened to a 5 minute presentation about how important the insurance is, asked a bunch of questions, she tried to get me to sign up for $5 for the first month, but I rejected it. 7 days later B breaks a tooth.


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

Personally, I'd see a vet tomorrow if possible. It has to be really painful. Have you ever had a really bad toothache/broken a tooth? It is horrible. Dogs won't show pain many times.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

Yea I'd take that tooth out, myself.


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## BassetMixUp (Dec 14, 2011)

That's what I'm thinking too.  I'd be a mess if my tooth broke like that. I'm just grateful that I check his teeth every other day and hope it happened at day care yesterday or sometime today. Thinking about him walking around in pain without me even noticing breaks my heart.

ETA: I was able to snag the last available appointment for 1:15 today. The receptionist said they are fully booked with procedures so whether it gets extracted today or not will depend on how urgent the vet feels it is.


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## BassetMixUp (Dec 14, 2011)

Back from the vet. The vet said they normally just file down a tooth like that so it doesn't scrape the gums & tongue and the dogs do "just fine". Since he is acting, eating and playing as normal. I asked about extracting it and she didn't seem to think that was the better option because the canine roots are so extremly long but they would do it if that's what we want.

Tell me I'm not crazy for wanting it extracted? That HAS to be painful, right? Sure, filing is less expensive, but I don't want him to be in pain. I don't know what to do. 

Filing $200
Extraction $450


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

My personal preference is to extract. Most dogs will ACT "just fine" even if you do nothing at all with a tooth like that, but it doesn't mean it's not painful, and that exposed pulp is like an access port for bacteria straight down the root of the tooth and puts it at risk of infection. I don't know why, but there is a lot of resistance by many vets to extract a tooth like that, maybe because the root is so big. But it's just putting off trouble until later to leave it, IMO.


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