# Vet pulled adult teeth?



## beanee357 (Jul 8, 2014)

Hello fellow Maltese moms,
I am worried about the dental health of my 3 year old maltese, Kong. We recently took our furbaby to a new vet for a teeth cleaning and learned, from the nurse, that Kong is missing a lot of his adult teeth. The nurse said a lot of the back molars were missing. She even asked if we had gotten the dog’s teeth removed. When I told her we hadn’t, she simply concluded that maybe the teeth never grew in. 

Later that day, I realized that when Kong was 6 months old, during his neutering, the vet (our old one) told us he would extract any remaining baby teeth. He told us there shouldn’t be many to extract. However, when the surgery was done, we got a call from the vet telling us that Kong had to get more teeth pulled than expected (9 teeth), and that some were difficult to remove, so they’d have to charge us much more. I was surprised, because our dog was already 6 months, and I thought there was no way there were that many baby teeth left. I am a first-time dog owner, so I didn’t think too much of it, at the time.

However, I’ve always thought it was weird that Kong is not able to chew his kibbles and treats well. He’ll often just swallow most foods after struggling to bite them. As a result, I often see chunks of whole foods in his stool. (many times, he finds them appetizing) 
Fortunately, I asked for the teeth they removed, and have taken a picture for evidence. I’ve also taken a picture Kong’s remaining teeth. I’d be grateful if anyone could take a look and confirm/deny my suspicion that adult teeth were ripped out at the neutering. Is there anything I can do to help Kong chew his food more effectively? And if the vet did pull out the wrong teeth, what can I do about it?

I've attached some pictures..


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## Chardy (Oct 30, 2008)

You have the adult teeth as proof-- as those are the pictures? I can't tell you what to do, but I know what I would do...


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## beanee357 (Jul 8, 2014)

Chardy said:


> You have the adult teeth as proof-- as those are the pictures? I can't tell you what to do, but I know what I would do...


I'm not 100% sure if the teeth in the pictures are adult teeth. I was wondering if anyone had any insight on it and could tell me.. what would you do about the situation?


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## zooeysmom (Aug 1, 2011)

I'm sorry I don't know the answer, but I hope someone can provide you with some guidance and advice. Those teeth look like the adult teeth my sister's Chihuahua had to have pulled, but I'm not sure about the visible difference between adult and baby teeth.


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## Chardy (Oct 30, 2008)

I would make an appointment and go to another vet for a second opinion. Baby teeth do not have roots per say- It just doesn't make sense if they took one tooth by mistake why would they continue to do it? Neither of my two had their permanent teeth all in by 6 months. As a matter of fact, Bimmer just lost two teeth last week and he is 10 months old today. 

I hope you get a answer that can help you get this resolved as this is just so unfair.


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## Chardy (Oct 30, 2008)

These are baby teeth. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## mss (Mar 1, 2006)

A couple of my dogs have had some adult teeth removed because they were very crowded and were predicted to cause problems later. But the teeth that my dogs had removed were incisors, not chewing teeth. And my dogs were well into their adult years. 

I'd agree with the suggestion to get another vet to look into this, to discuss what might result in the future (I have had dogs with no teeth who could eat fine  ) and hopefully find out why your old vet did that.


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## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

Do baby teeth have long roots like that? I would ask the new vet.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

It is very common in Maltese to have missing premolars. Are the molars there?


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## beanee357 (Jul 8, 2014)

jmm said:


> It is very common in Maltese to have missing premolars. Are the molars there?


Around 2 or 3 of the back molars are there, but no premolars


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## beanee357 (Jul 8, 2014)

shellbeme said:


> Do baby teeth have long roots like that? I would ask the new vet.


That's exactly what I thought was strange too.. I remember them saying some were hard to pull out too..If it does turn out that they are adult teeth that were taken out what can we do to confront the vet..


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## beanee357 (Jul 8, 2014)

mss said:


> A couple of my dogs have had some adult teeth removed because they were very crowded and were predicted to cause problems later. But the teeth that my dogs had removed were incisors, not chewing teeth. And my dogs were well into their adult years.
> 
> I'd agree with the suggestion to get another vet to look into this, to discuss what might result in the future (I have had dogs with no teeth who could eat fine  ) and hopefully find out why your old vet did that.


Once I find out for sure, what can I do to confront my vet.. I'm pretty upset about this because Kong can't eat properly


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## mss (Mar 1, 2006)

First get the opinion of another vet, and if that vet thinks adult teeth were improperly removed, and what effect that might have in the future. If you had to pay extra for the additional extractions, you might at a minimum ask for a refund. 

What does Kong eat? My toothless dogs ate--and eat--kibble wet and didn't have any problems chowing down.  For treats, you probably need something that either is soft or a biscuit that crumbles easily.


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

Don't be alarmed...the teeth that were extracted look like baby teeth to me...it is common for Maltese to have missing adult teeth...and sometimes they can have extra teeth...one of mine had only two baby teeth removed..she only weighs 4.3 pounds and has a super tiny mouth...well she has very few adult teeth...only her molars and her front teeth along with the canines came in...sometimes there are not any adult teeth under the baby teeth...she eats well with no trouble...your baby should have no trouble eating soft foods..if you are feeding kibble, soak it for 30 minutes before feeding..there is no need to go to the vet over this, IMHO...


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## mss (Mar 1, 2006)

My understanding about baby teeth is that they start out having significant roots, but the baby tooth roots are (supposed to be) dissolved and absorbed in the natural process of the adult teeth coming in and the baby teeth falling out on their own as their roots are naturally absorbed. So seeing rather long roots doesn't necessarily mean those were adult teeth.


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## mss (Mar 1, 2006)

An interesting dog dental vet's site I found says the baby teeth actually have pretty long roots compared to the size of the part of the tooth you can see. Advanced Animal Dentistry


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## Chardy (Oct 30, 2008)

Bimmer had 3 retained baby teeth removed today ( deciduous ) He also had what looked like to me an infection on his gums which I started to notice a week ago. It was red and had like a white pimple that would come and go. I had this appointment already scheduled before I noticed that, but the vets office said as long as it was not bothering him we could wait another week till they saw it. 

Today, I found it actually was part of a root from his baby teeth that was in there. There was not any infection and the doctor said in time it would have dissolved and the inflammation would have went away, but being he was under for the extractions that removed it. 

She also said his retained baby teeth had no intensions on coming out anytime soon on their own. The new canine teeth came in right next to them.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

I would suspect your dog was born without the premolars.


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