# Puppy Overbite (Teeth Pulling)



## Teeroy (Jul 14, 2008)

Hello all,

I have a 9 1/2 week old puppy that has approx a 1/4" overbite and I took him to the vet yesterday for his 1st appointment. I did know he had the overbite when I picked him up, so I am prepared to deal with it. The vet told me that he would like to pull his bottom front teeth (approx 8 teeth including bottom canines). This is supposed to allow the permenant teeth to have more room to move forward and possibly line up. However, he doesn't think it will make up the entire difference on his own and we may have to put a plate in to move them forward more as his permenant teeth come in. Again, I knew this was going to be a possibility going into this, so I expected it. One more thing I should add, is that his puppy canines and one of his other front lower teeth have made little holes in the roof of his mouth which I also saw when I picked him up.

Has anyone out there dealt with this same issue? How does it affect a puppy to not have lower teeth in the front for a couple months before his permenant teeth come in? He has already adapted to the overbite without any issues when eating, etc. so it really doesn't affect him in anyway. He still bites damn hard on my fingers or carpets or socks or anything, you get the point!!

Is this our best option? Is it best to get them out? Does it truly allow the bottom jaw to grow more with those bottom teeth out in anyones experience? 

Would it be a better option to wait, let his baby teeth fall out, see where the permenant teeth come in and deal with it at that time? Possibly have his canines ground down at that time to avoid the roof of his mouth?

Thanks for any help you can offer before his appointment tommorrow morning, thursday 10-16-2008.


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## ErinsEdge (Feb 14, 2003)

Have you gotten another opinion? I don't know where you are in Wisconsin but I know there are vets that specialize in dental problems, one near me. I would consult one of those first before I did something that radical.


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## Teeroy (Jul 14, 2008)

I PM'd you ErinsEdge.


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## Gerry Clinchy (Aug 7, 2007)

I'm a bit confused here ... at 7 to 8 wks Golden puppies are expected to be slightly overshot. Can't say as I've ever measured by how much. We worry if the bite is scissors or undershot. The Standard of the Breed calls for an adult with a scissors bite (like humans). I would imagine that the Lab Standard is quite similar?

The reason as explained to me is that the lower jaw grows more after this age than the lower jaw. So, we are concerned than an undershot pup at 7-8 wks will be even more undershot as the pup grows.

That said, I have had a couple of slightly undershot pups whose adult bite was just fine  ... contrary to what I had been told would happen.

Bottom line, I think I would just wait on this & see what happens in a couple of months.

Thus, an overbite


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## Juli H (Aug 27, 2007)

My thoughts too...had a chessie pup that was a little overshot and she had a good bite as an adult...

Juli


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## Teeroy (Jul 14, 2008)

This overbite is not a normal overbite. His lower canines are actually in-line with his upper canines, and creating little holes in the roof of his mouth along the inside of this upper canines. That alone is not that big of a deal with his baby canines however, when the permanent teeth come in they would go much deeper into the roof of his mouth. Hope that helps clarify what is going on in his mouth. 

Again, the idea is that the permanent teeth have more room to move forward with the baby teeth out and that is what I am looking for experience on. Thanks!


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## awesmlab (Nov 13, 2003)

I had a puppy that had a really bad overbite. I took him to a dental specialist when he was about 4-5 months old and we talked about the options for the future (scary!) which sound like what you're talking about. The vet also wanted to take out the one or 2 puppy teeth that were hanging on so that the adults could come in and wanted to charge me about $1000 for it. I spoke to my regular vet who took them out when I had him neutered at 6 months (this was before I knew better about neutering that young but that's another topic) and for no charge. I ended up waiting him out after that and was glad I did. He's still way overshot but his adult teeth came in and ajusted to his jaw and his bite is fine. I was never told that they puppy teeth should come in so that they jaw could grow more just that with them out of the way the adult teeth wouldn't have any problems coming in.

Personally, I'd give him a little time to grow and see what he looks like in a couple of months and then take out the puppy teeth if they're hanging on while the adults are erupting.


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## EdA (May 13, 2003)

Teeroy said:


> Is this our best option? Is it best to get them out? Does it truly allow the bottom jaw to grow more with those bottom teeth out in anyones experience?.


It is the best option available, the theory is that the position of the teeth impedes the browth of the mandible, there is no downside to cutting them off, I generally just cut them off at the gum line with a nail clipper, if you wait there will be no benefit


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## Teeroy (Jul 14, 2008)

Eda,
You cut them off with a nail clipper? Is the fact that they are sticking into the roof of his mouth the reason why the bottom jaw does not have a chance to grow more? Or is the fact that the teeth are there not allow the room for the adult teeth to adjust as much to the overbite? 

Would it be best to just remove the canines instead of the entire front row, or is it best to remove the entire front row? 

Thanks, keep it coming!! I'm learning!!


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## EdA (May 13, 2003)

Teeroy said:


> Eda,
> You cut them off with a nail clipper? Is the fact that they are sticking into the roof of his mouth the reason why the bottom jaw does not have a chance to grow more?


correct, in theory when the jaw is closed the lock produced does not allow the mandible to grow, the lower canine teeth imbedded in the upper soft palate is the problem, the incisors probably have little to no influence


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## Henry V (Apr 7, 2004)

I have had several pups in several litters with an overbite problem where the canines do not mesh/align properly. All of these pups were essentially given away without papers.

In all cases the dogs adapted and did very well. The lower canines were removed on all of them at a fairly young age but the problem did not fix itself. All dogs as adults either had their lower canines removed or ground down to prevent problems.

Ed, in your experience, how often has it worked to remove the lower canines at a young age so that the lower jaw grows faster to catch up?


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## Teeroy (Jul 14, 2008)

So, you believe there is no benefit to pulling the other front lower teeth? How will the pup handle not having any front lower teeth? Will he even know the difference?


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## Last Frontier Labs (Jan 3, 2003)

I don't know that pulling the teeth will correct jaw growth. I xrayed a 2 year old bitch to see if the vet could determine if her overbite was due to injury or was a genetic issue. (She had a bad fall at about 8 weeks of age.) The xrays showed something really wrong in the area of the growth plates of the bottom jaw that he thought was the result of an injury. However, I produced another pup with an overbite 6 months later, so I surmised it was a genetic issue rather than injury.
What I'm getting at though is that in these pups there is something really different/abnormal in the growth plate of the lower jaw and I'm not sure pulling teeth will do anything other than prevent injury to the roof of the mouth.


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## EdA (May 13, 2003)

Henry V said:


> Ed, in your experience, how often has it worked to remove the lower canines at a young age so that the lower jaw grows faster to catch up?


I can't recall that removal of the lower canines ever had an effect but it's sure worth a try. I see very few maloccluded jaws in Labradors.


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## Teeroy (Jul 14, 2008)

Sorry, maloccluded jaws in Labradors?


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## Howard N (Jan 3, 2003)

Teeroy said:


> Sorry, maloccluded jaws in Labradors?


 
1 dictionary results for: _maloccluded_
_Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)__ - __Cite This Source__ - __Share This_*mal·oc·clu·sion*







ʒən/[/COLOR]Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[mal-_uh_-*kloo*-zh_uh_







n]Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation_–_

_noun __Dentistry_. faulty occlusion; irregular contact of opposing teeth in the upper and lower jaws.


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## Henry V (Apr 7, 2004)

EdA said:


> I can't recall that removal of the lower canines ever had an effect but it's sure worth a try. I see very few maloccluded jaws in Labradors.


I agree that it is worth a try. 
This is another one of those presumably polygenic issues that once you become aware of you can start to see a pattern as to what dogs seem more likely to throw such things. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not but always something to watch for.


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## Guest (Oct 1, 2010)

Know this is an old thread, but I'm dealing with an overbite issue as well. Got a pup and discovered he has a bad overbite. Can deal with it as we are not breeding him, but he will be trained for hunt tests and want him to be a great retriever (he's got the genes and, at 5 months, lots of drive).

Options for overbite are:

- Extract lower canines - 1 day procedure and done.
- cut them off - Keep some of the tooth's in place but apparently fairly high chance of infection, later problems
- install a plate that steers the lower canines out and prevents them from creating holes in the roof of the mouth. 3-4 month process and multiple visits 

Think the dog would be happier just getting them out and it sure is easier. That said, I'm very concerned that removing the lower canines could hurt his ability to grip a retrieve (especially something large like a goose). 

Hate to make a bad decision and create issues in my dogs retrieving ability. Can do the plate, but really want to find out if my concern about losing the lower canines is valid.

Anyone experienced with this? Would appreciate any advice, wisdom.

Thanks,

john


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## Maxs Mom (Sep 17, 2009)

My 7 year old lab has this issue. I just thought it was an overbite, and until we went to my current vet never had it brought up to me. She eats fine but her lower jaw did not grow out as her canines hooked and prevented growth as a pup. I felt terrible when I learned it may have been fixed or improved. She does eat just fine, her back molars are fairly well aligned. 

My vet when my golden was a pup said to wait until her teeth were pretty much out before spaying, that way if some baby teeth needed help coming out, they could do that under the same sedation. She didn't have any issues.


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## LeMay (Dec 18, 2015)

EdA said:


> It is the best option available, the theory is that the position of the teeth impedes the browth of the mandible, there is no downside to cutting them off, I generally just cut them off at the gum line with a nail clipper, if you wait there will be no benefit


This sounds like a reasonable plan. I'm just wondering why all the way to the gumline? Why not just 1/3 of the way down? Does it cause any pain or expose anything that shouldn't be exposed?

Thanks


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## ErinsEdge (Feb 14, 2003)

Any new thoughts on this issue? The vet charged over $400 to remove incisors, and another breeder's vet charged $60 for 2 pups. I since have cut tips off.


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## NateB (Sep 25, 2003)

I have done it for a friend who had a litter. Masked the pup with gas took about 5 minutes to extract the K9s that were on the affected jaw. I have seen one broken puppy K9 get infected and cause jaw swelling. If you are going to take them, are them all is my feeling. No need to take incisors in most cases, and they take about 30 sec each to pull.


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## Ray Kirkpatrick (Sep 24, 2010)

For what it's worth....

We purchased a very well bred ylf some years back. Got her at discount because she had an overbite.
Agreement was to spay. Which we did. She was with us for over eleven years. Hunted ducks, geese and pheasants.

She never knew she had an overbite and we never told her.

(sound familiar Vern?)


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## Ken Barton (Jun 7, 2010)

What's an overbite? Is the lower jaw further posterior or anterior(in front of upper jaw) I can see only 2 areas of concern 1-nutrition and 2-breeding If nutrition isn't a problem-it shouldn't affect performance 2- anything you do to surgically enhance or retard the malocclusion will not have any affect on future offspring therefore breeding would be ill advised .I don't see how removing anterior deciduous teeth would correct a problem with bone growth and may result in a narrower lower jaw


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## Ken Barton (Jun 7, 2010)

Tim Carrion -any thoughts?


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## Headgear (May 22, 2011)

Let me start this off with making it clear that I am not a veterinarian. I am an orthodontist so I am basing my comments on human skeletal and dental development. There are similarities between dog and human mandibular(lower jaw) growth as well as there are differences. For humans it is difficult to get make clinically significant changes in the size of the lower jaw using appliances or extractions. The maxilla(upper jaw) on the other hand can be stimulated to either grow further forward or retard its forward growth with proper orthopedic appliances. Extracting deciduous teeth though not harmful, would not be of much benefit in a child in my practice to help with a lower jaw that is underdeveloped. Again, I treat humans, not dogs, and there is ALOT I don't know about dog skeletal and dental development but I would need to be explained clearly how this would be of benefit in stimulating mandibular development. Good luck!!


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