I am looking for some advice. My 17 month of malinois cracked one of his upper incisors and part of the tooth is missing. Has this situation happened to anyone's dog here on the forum and if so what did you do? I am calling Iowa State Vet Hospital tommorow to schedule an appointment. It doesn't seem to bother my dog, but I am leary of having it removed because there is a possibility that would cause his other teeth to loosen. Please let me know any advice from any similar experiences.
Thank you,

Jay F

I would speak with a canine dental specialist.

Don't know what kinda vet Iowa State Vet Hospital is, but generally a regular vet will do 1 of 2 things. 1) Pull the tooth. 2) Refer you to a specialist.

I would always contact the specialist rather than pulling a tooth.

Hi Jay,

My GSD broke her upper incisor in half last year. Took her to the vet and they wanted to pull it. I didn't want to have it pulled because she was only 2 yrs at the time. My vet started her on antibiotics in case there was any infection. I found a canine dentist and took her to him. He was going to try to save the tooth, but the infection had already reached the bone. He ended up doing a root canal and bonded it to cover the hole. That was 1-1/2 yrs ago and the bonding is still holding. The tooth that is left is grayish in color, but you can't really see it unless you're looking for it. I was very pleased with the results.

This happened to my first dog when she was young. I had the tooth repaired and at that time the vet told me that eventually,( I think I recall him saying it would be about 10 years) it may develop an abcess and it would then need to be removed. Sure enough, it was about 10 years later, abcess developed and we removed the tooth.

My GSD broke off his lower left canine halfway down (the big pointed tooth - is this the one you mean? The incisors are the little ones at the front between the canines). Veterinary dental specialist advised against extraction as removal of the deep root of this tooth can weaken the jawbone in a young dog. He did a root canal and put a metal cap on it - almost two years now and no problems. Getting it looked by a veterinary dental specialist, not just a regular vet, is definitely the way to go. Be prepared for substantial hit to the wallet, though.

I had a dog I worked with years ago with severe separation anxiety, who would destroy nearly any crate that he was put in. This dog HAD to be contained because it was the only way to keep him safe - he jumped out of a second story plate glass window and nearly died from blood loss before I got him. He broke all four of his canines at different times trying to escape any enclosure that kept him from people. He had to have all four removed due to severe damage to them, and it was not a pleasant experience at all. In his case, the tooth was broken below the gumline. I opted to have them removed as he was still frantic about escaping and would just break off any restructure of the tooth. He did fine without them, and the removal was fine as well.
My Boxer, Kavik, broke her right lower canine at 6 months old, but she only broke the tip of it off, and no root was exposed. I was going to have it fixed, but she has had no complications at all from it, and it was not broken off far enough to make it a necessity. I keep a close eye on it, but in almost 2 years she has not developed any problems. No sugar in her diet has helped with that as well. I met with a specialist to evaluate it, and his advise was to fix it if she needed it, but if not to leave it be.

Broken incisor (little teeth, front and center, between long sharp canines)?
Or broken canine (long sharp "fangs")?

If it's only a broken incisor, I would think that a root canal would be overkill, if a dentist would even do it. These teeth are quite small, and a little less important than the canines or molars. If it's a broken canine, I personally would find a way to get a root canal - this is a very expensive procedure, but if you find a great dentist, I think the results are excellent.

My dog had a root canal on a fractured pre-molar last winter. Our regular vet did exactly what Mike said - offered to pull it but gave us a list of dental references, so we could get the opinion of a specialist. The specialist said a root canal was the only way to save Oscar's tooth, so we did it. $2000 later, you can't even tell he had anything done there, and the tooth is holding up beautifully.

The determining factor for a root canal is whether or not the pulp of the tooth is exposed by the fracture. If it is, you'll see a dark spot in the center of the broken area, if it's a fresh break, it may bleed a bit. Once the pulp is exposed, bacteria immediately make their way down into the root and it will eventually become infected and painful. You can wait this process out and pull the tooth after it becomes a problem, or you can preemptively pull it now and save the dog the discomfort of a dying tooth, or try to save it with a root canal. *Pulling canines can actually be quite difficult, as the roots of these teeth stretch far up along the nasal cavity, and done with a rough hand, an extraction can actually end up fracturing the dogs scull (not fatal, but obviously not preferable).

There have been a few threads about broken teeth here, you'll find them searching on "broken teeth" or "root canal".

Good luck!

~Natalya

*Cameron, that poor dog!! I can't even imagine what that kind of anxiety feels like and I hope you were able to work him through at least some of it so that he could lead a more relaxed life...

 Quote: Natalya Zahn

*Cameron, that poor dog!! I can't even imagine what that kind of anxiety feels like and I hope you were able to work him through at least some of it so that he could lead a more relaxed life...

actually the surgery and sedatives used to maintain the healing process were instrumental in breaking the negative cycle. That and a crate he couldn't get a tooth into Once the canines were gone it was actually pretty easy to prevent breakouts, and the longer he was unable to break the crate the better he got.
sorry for the de-rail, back to broken teeth

In one fell swoop my dog broke an incisor, cracked another and chipped a third. Went to a Vet dentist and had the broken one removed and a stainless steal cap put on the other. The capped one was broke off during bite work and later removed as well. With a discount, cost was around $2,700 bucks. Later, all the canines were capped as well...another 4-5 grand. Just to give you a general idea of cost. That was about 5 years ago.

Howard