My 2.5 year old GSD, Brody, has a fractured 4th premolar. It is on the upper left side of his jaw. I didn't even notice it until he refused his breakfast the other day and became lethargic. I then noticed a lump on his muzzle which led me to inspect the teeth and found the broken tooth. I immediately took him to my local vet since I was sure it was an infection and an abscess. It was. The fracture is deep into the pulp.

The vet recommended doing an extraction of the tooth. In the meantime, he is on Tramadol for the pain and antibiotics for the infection. After two doses of the antibiotics he is already doing much better, I was so relieved.

Now on to my question. Brody is a Schutzhund dog. He and I both love it, and I am a helper for my club. I am concerned that extraction of such an important tooth might have consequences:

1) Would the extraction of the upper 4th premolar have any affect on his ability to chew/grind food? He is fed a raw diet and loves his RMB's.

2) Would the extraction affect his performance on the Schutzhund field? I am 99% sure we will stay at club level, and his bitework right now is awesome. I have contacted my trainer/coach and he is getting some info for me as well.

I have no idea what could have caused this. He hasn't had any large bones in months. He gets chicken backs for breakfast, a mix of muscle meats and organs for dinner. He has no hard toys, no antlers, no nylabones, nothing.

Currently my options are:

1) Have the tooth extracted by my local vet on Friday. Cost would be between $700-$1100.

2) Wait for the appointment I made with a board certified dentist in Ann Arbor on December 1st, which was their first available opening. They come highly recommended since he doesn work on sport and police dogs.They said an extraction would run around $600, and a root canal/cap would run around $1100. They wouldn't know if they could do the root canal until he was under G/A and had his x-rays.

Money is very tight right now, but I have a line of credit for veterinary procedures.

I have read all of the threads on the board I could find related to this subject. I didn't find any that mentioned the tooth had already become infected with an abscess though. I like the idea of the root canal since it has much less recovery time and the tooth can stay put. However, I am not sure if even the board certified dentist would be able to save it due to the nature of the fracture and infection.

Thank you for any insight you can provide!

Lee

That is a very important tooth with 3 roots. It is a cutting tooth, evolved for tearing flesh. Most of the bite force comes down on that tooth if the dog is eating meat. I don't know anything at all about "bite work". Folks who do this sport will have quality input on the best route for you to take.

Abcess in the cheek or around the eye is common with injury to this tooth. Antibiotics are often very effective. Do you know when the broken tooth occurred? It may be a long standing injury, and only the infection is new.

I just went to my human dentist yesterday and am looking a 4K of dental work for myself. It is all frightfully expensive. And unpleasant!

Thanks Betty! I am not sure when it occurred, it is a total mystery to me. The antibiotics are doing a great job. He has only had 3 doses so far (Clindamycin 150mg, 3 caps every 12 hours) and he's already eating again and he even brought me a toy to play with. Yesterday he would barely move, poor guy.

I would really like his tooth to be saved. My coach/trainer gave me another doctor to contact, maybe he will have an appointment available sooner.

I hope your dental work goes well and painless as possible. $4K is painful enough on the wallet!!

You want time for the antibiotics to work thoroughly before digging around in there. So a short delay isn't bad.

The tooth may have been fractured for years.

That makes sense. I contacted another dental specialist that was recommended by my coach and a couple of other people in my Schutzhund club in Ann Arbor. I was able to get an appointment to have the procedure done this Tuesday, the 11th. Once they do the x-rays they will decide if it can be saved or extracted.

Lee, I'm glad to hear you were able to get a sooner appointment. A month is a very long time to wait, especially if the dog is in pain during that time.

I had sent you a PM earlier this morning, before your above post.

When this happened to one of Enzo's canine's I chose to save the tooth and did a root canal. It was 3x's the cost (I'm in CA where everything is 3x anywhere else!) of an extraction, but it was an otherwise healthy tooth except for the breakage and root exposure. My vet didn't think it was a good idea to dig into healthy gums and remove an intact tooth, so I went to a specialist who did an excellent job of reshaping the tooth so he's able to use it properly (bite).

If root canal is in your budget and the tooth is salvageable then that's my vote.

Thanks everyone! Brody is doing much better today. After a few days on the antibiotics he is back to his old self. He has been off of the Tramadol for a couple of days now and is doing great!

I am glad we are going in this Tuesday even though he's doing well, I didn't want to wait until December 1st to have this problem taken care of.

I expressed my concern to the Dr.'s office that I would like the tooth saved if at all possible.

Cheri I replied to your message, sorry I didn't see it earlier!

Well we just got back from the doctor's office. His surgery went very well. They were able to save the tooth and perform the three root canals that the upper 4th premolar required. My boy is still very loopy but in very little pain, I am so happy.

For any of you people around the Michigan area, Dr. Clarkson in Ann Arbor was fantastic. He knew all about Schutzhund dogs and my concerns. He went over everything with me in detail, his staff was awesome, and overall it was a great place to have the work done.

I opted to have the tooth repaired with a composite patch for now. They want us back in six months for another x-ray to be sure the tooth is doing well and there is no chance of any more infections. At that time they said they could also do a cast of his teeth to have a crown made for him if I wanted. This would be an extra $1000 or so, but it might be worth it for him.

This visit, all said and done, was almost $1300. It was a bit more expensive than having my local vet extract the tooth, but I feel it was worth it. Both for the much quicker recovery and his ability to chew/bite/show off a sweet shiny crown.

Thanks everyone for your advice!

Yay! From my experience it's a very successful fix. Enzo has not had any issues since his fix. However, I am jealous of your cost. Mine was 3x your cost! Ugh...the price of living in CA!