Maltese puppy not losing teeth on time

Retained baby teeth are very common in toy breed dogs. They are commonly just removed at the time of the spay or neuter so only one anesthesia is necessary.

Dealing with Retained "Baby -Teeth"

How old is Bernie?

We have a show dog that had double canines after she turned one. I asked the handler if he wanted me to take her and get them removed and was a little suprised when he answered. He looked at me and said what if you lose her on the table? We waited and they did come out on there own. I would wait and give Bernie plenty of bully sticks to chew on, unles you are having your dog put under for some other procedure.

yup! remy had 5 retained baby teeth and had to have them extracted so it's quite normal!

Bernie is 10 months.

Wow! The part about losing her on the table freaks me out!

We spayed her in Feb., I wish I'd have known about this tooth thing then...

Are the teeth Canines or just regular teeth?

They're the canines in front and then both upper back molars need to come out too, according to the dr.

I'm surprised your vet wouldn't have suggested it while she was already under for the spay. When I told my vet I was going to want that done, he sort of gave me the "well, of course.." as if it was a given.

Leila is 7 months and only started losing baby teeth a little over a month ago. Her canines aren't even loose yet, so I'm sure those will need to be pulled. I'm going to give it another month or so and then she'll have her spay done and have them pulled.

Sorry I did'nt ask this before but at ten month's how much does she weigh? We have had smaller puppies that it took longer for them to complete their teething process. Sometimes it can take up to fifteen months for their mouths to completely finish the process.

Pure Paws said:

We have a show dog that had double canines after she turned one. I asked the handler if he wanted me to take her and get them removed and was a little suprised when he answered. He looked at me and said what if you lose her on the table? We waited and they did come out on there own. I would wait and give Bernie plenty of bully sticks to chew on, unles you are having your dog put under for some other procedure.

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This was a show dog? I am very surprised as retained baby teeth can not only throw off their bite, they can get infected which can spread to the adult teeth.

Ladysmom said:

This was a show dog? I am very surprised as retained baby teeth can not only throw off their bite, they can get infected which can spread to the adult teeth.

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She is the one in the picture. Her bite is perfect and the canines did not affect it. She has her Akc Champion title and placed third out of twenty-eight dogs in her class at the World Dog Show last October. I think our concern was more putting her under than letting nature run its course.

Pure Paws said:

She is the one in the picture. Her bite is perfect and the canines did not affect it. She has her Akc Champion title and placed third out of twenty-eight dogs in her class at the World Dog Show last October. I think our concern was more putting her under than letting nature run its course.

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Retained baby teeth can cause adult to teeth to move into improper positions causing problems. But the more common negative effect of double rows if teeth is dental disease. Debris gets trapped between teeth and causes tartar build up. It is important for our pets' health that we keep up with their dental care. The infection can lead to heart and kidney problems.
So, for the health of the dog, it is usually best to remove baby teeth at the time of spay or neuter.
The molars may not be retained...dogs lose molars around 9 months. I'd give those a little time unless they are causing problems.

Bernie is 10 months old now and weighs 4.6 lbs. The vet says she's done growing and so does the breeder we adopted her from.

(FYI, our breeder rescued Bernie's mom from a backyard breeder in Eastern Wa. and then found out she was pregnant. I tell you that because people always raise eyebrows when we tell them she was adopted from a breeder.)

Anyway, one of her back molars seems to be having some decay problems and is very loose. I just don't know how long to wait to put her under for the extraction: if it takes up to 15 months sometimes then should I wait and brush her teeth and keep an eye on them until then and then do something more drastic?

I agree what the others here have said. I have been showing Ava so she has not been spayed yet. But she did have 10 baby teeth pulled as they weren't falling out.

My friend waited too long to have her dog's baby teeth pulled and now one permenant tooth is crooked. Not good when you're showing to have crooked teeth.

If she has a problem with the molar, get it pulled now.

My puppy is 21 weeks and still has all of his puppy teeth. They don't seem to be loose at all, although his gums seem to be swelling like there are teeth behind. I got him at 10 weeks and all he had was his canines. He didn't get his front teeth until he was around 14 weeks. He is scheduled to be neutered next week. I am going to ask the vet about it then.

Lorielp said:

My puppy is 21 weeks and still has all of his puppy teeth. They don't seem to be loose at all, although his gums seem to be swelling like there are teeth behind. I got him at 10 weeks and all he had was his canines. He didn't get his front teeth until he was around 14 weeks. He is scheduled to be neutered next week. I am going to ask the vet about it then.

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I was in the same situation with Bailey. He'd started lifting his leg so we didn't want to postpone his neuter to wait for his teeth. He was neutered last week at 21 weeks and will have to have his teeth removed separately if need be.

Is your little boy still squatting? If so, maybe you can postpone the neuter for a couple more weeks. I wouldn't wait too long as most breeders recommend neutering by six months to prevent marking.

Our Daisy is going in tomorrow for her second dental surgery She was spayed before we realized she was not losing her baby teeth so she had those double baby teeth removed in April 2011. Now her back adult teeth are rotting and infected......the vet says she just has too small of a mouth and her teeth are too big for her. She is just shy of 4 pounds full grown. I wish I was more knowledgable about the potential tooth problems before we adopted her (maltese/poodle mix) but I am not sure what I would have done differently as it seems impossible to prevent so we are doing the best we can now to ensure a healthy mouth!

Good luck to you!

Thinking of you and Daisy---keep us up-dated, please!

edelweiss said:

Thinking of you and Daisy---keep us up-dated, please!

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Thank you