I've just noticed my 70lb lab mix has cracked one of his teeth - knocked a chunk off the side, basically. I believe it's P4 (upper), if I'm reading the tooth chart correctly. I haven't been to the vet yet but will go soon. It doesn't seem *too* bad and it doesn't seem to be bothering him at the moment but it's a bummer because that looks like a pretty important tooth. I'm sure other people on here have had things happen like that before so I'm just wondering if anyone has any good advise? Will it "re-grow" at all? I could be wrong but I think he may have cracked it chewing on (cracking open) a raw lamb femur.

"Slab fracture" is what this is often called. I've had it happen on a couple of my dogs. The severity of the fracture will determine the outcome.

If it is shallow (just shearing off a bit of enamel, but not exposing any pulp) it's probably not a big deal. You'll watch it and perhaps be mindful that rough chewing could be a problem.

If the fracture is deep enough--enough tooth is gone--that it is exposing anything that looks bloody, then the tooth will probably have to be extracted. Which means sedation and several hundred dollars. A seriously broken tooth isn't anything to ignore. It's an easy pathway to the bloodstream for infection, or an abscess in the jaw.

Most dogs are very good at masking pain. If there's any doubt about the severity of the break, it should be looked at by the vet who can determine whether or not it needs treatment.

A broken adult tooth will not regrow. If you do have to have a tooth pulled, it's not a big deal recovery-wise. But you should probably limit this dog's access to tooth-breaking items from now on. Some dogs know how to behave with a bone. Some don't.

Thanks Tracy. Yeah I'll get him to the vet asap. It's a huge bummer.

I'm dealing with this right now -- again! About six weeks ago, Logan went to see a canine dental specialist and had a total of five teeth repaired. One of them is the same one you are describing, Matt, the large upper premolar. That one had what Tracy describes, a slab fracture. There was no pulp exposed, it didn't appear to be causing any pain, but the smooth outer enamel part was broken off, and the rough surface that remained (is that the dentin?) was collecting a lot of plaque and tartar.

All five teeth were repaired using a bonded composite material to basically rebuild the tooth up to the approximate size and shape it's supposed to be. Since none of them were broken down to the pulp, no root canals were required.

A couple days ago, I was doing a routine look into Logan's mouth, and I'll be darned if the same premolar wasn't fractured again. It looks like the entire composite repaired part has broken off. So we'll be seeing the dentist again on Friday. In speaking to him on the phone, he said, if it's not any more severely fractured than it was before the attempted repair, we may be able to just take a wait and see approach.

It's good that you're taking him to the vet. He or she can tell you if it is something that is likely to be painful or be an avenue for bacteria to enter the body, etc.

Hi Cheri - that description sounds exactly like what Dante has - the smooth part is broken off and it's rough now. The one on the opposite side of his mouth is broken a little bit similarly too actually, but not as bad. I'm assuming I should go to his normal vet first, but instead should I maybe skip that and go straight to a dental specialist?

In my case, I did ask my GP vet to have a look first. In the interest of maintaining a good relationship and open communication with her, I always ask her advice about a specialist. If she thinks we need one, she doesn't hesitate to refer. (Some specialists actually require a referral.)

She knew about the slab fracture of the molar and was comfortable with just watching it. When he started breaking all four canines in different manners, she said it was beyond her expertise and recommended we see a specialist. The specialist recommended fixing the molar, too.

I pretty sure my regular vet can handle a routine extraction, but they do not do any kind of composite repair, and I'm not sure if they do pulpectomies (root canals). I don't think so. Just the very basic uncomplicated extraction procedures.

Your vet may be different, may have more particular experience with dentistry. If you elect to see a specialist (board-certified by the American Veterinary Dental College) or if your vet refers you to one, it looks like you have a lot of them to choose from in your locale. We only have three in my entire state. Fortunately two of them are close to me.

I'll be interested to hear what your vet says. Likewise, I'll let you know what I hear from mine on Friday.

I agree with Cheri--start with your regular vet first. He/she will be able to tell you if this is something that requires a specialist.

I've never needed a specialist (but then, I never considered any kind of treatment beyond a full extraction of the broken tooth, and my vet can handle that.)

I've had 3 episodes with this--one tooth each in three different dogs. Two dogs required having the tooth pulled, one was a minor "wait and watch" slab fracture. Ever since, I'm fairly stingy with any kind of hard bone or chew thing that could be a tooth breaking risk, because my dogs don't have enough of their own money to pay for dental bills...and I'm disinclined to pay for many more $700 tooth-pullings.

Thanks you guys. I think my regular vet is pretty good with teeth so I'll start there. I don't think this will require extraction but maybe a specialist for the composite repair.

I'll let you know what I find out.

Just got back from a visit to Logan's dentist. He seemed to feel that the tooth wasn't broken any worse that it was originally. The way it had been repaired was with three different layers of composite material. He felt it was just the outer layer or maybe two that had come off, and that the innermost layer was still there. No evidence of exposed pulp or sensitivity in the tooth.

So he advises a wait-and-watch position. I'm relieved that no further procedures are required at this point. Logan is a dog that is very whiney and restless for a couple days after general anesthesia, and so I'm glad he doesn't have to go through that again so soon.

On the other hand, I'm definitely disappointed that the nice and not-so-cheap repair didn't last any longer than it did, and I am still puzzled as to why he breaks teeth so easily. He does not get raw bones or elk antlers or any of the really hard things dogs can chew on. I'm keeping fingers crossed that the repairs on the four canines will last much longer.

Matt, I hope you get good news on Dante's tooth, too, and that the vet feels it's something you can just watch for now.

Thanks Cheri - looks like we've hopefully dodged a bullet. The vet didn't think it looked like an emergency at this point so we're going to wait until next month and then xray it and apply some sealant and then keep an eye on it. There's still a chance the xray may show it to be a problem, at which point we can either extract it or have a root canal. Both of those have their pluses and minuses so I'm really keeping my fingers crossed everything looks ok on the xray. She said that another couple of millimeters and we'd have had to do the extraction or root canal for sure.