My shepherd who is only 6 years old, has extremly worn front bottom teeth, they are worn almost down to the gum and I can see the pick inside although it isnt soft. she has a good bite, hasnt played with rocks and hasnt chewed herself enough to cause this much wear. I seriously think it is the bones, knuckle bones especially because she uses those bottom teeth to scrape the marrow out.
my question is can she still eat them? she loves them but Ive stopped giving them to her because Im afraid she'd rub down to the gum, so ive just been giving her bones she can crush in her other teeth.
Im not %100 sure that the bones did it but I dont know how she would have worn them down that far otherwise.
has this happened to anyone? I was a little suprised that it happened so soon, she isnt that old.


Edited by Mary Velazquez (02/03/2008 05:29 PM)
Edit reason: details...

With a dog with teeth that are that worn, I say no more recreational bones. With the toys out there on the market (kongs, everlasting treats, etc) there is really no need to knowingly wear her teeth down further.

is it normal for a dogs teeth to wear down that fast?

Dogs are like people. Some seem to have better teeth than others. Dogs that are obsessive about lugging stuff around other than toys tend to wear their teeth more than dogs that don't.

I do not allow my adults to have knuckle bones though. They are too hard and there is too much chance of breaking teeth.

As always, it would be a good idea to have your dogs teeth checked by a Veterinary Dentist. I have had a similar discussion before with the Board Certified Dentist that I work with and the tooth is quite amazing. Even though the tooth is worn down, the tooth continues to protect itself by laying additional dentin over the exposed area; the important thing is to make sure the tooth is able to regenerate faster than it is being worn. So it would be a good idea to make sure the nerves are not indeed exposed. As far as the bones go, the vet would be able to tell you based on the tooth condition. I don't give my dogs hard bones...they are typically restricted to dehydrated chicken, frozen carrots, occassional rawhide...so I am not sure if they would be safe. I do believe the most damage to my dogs teeth besides the obvious wear from bitework training is on their toys. The toys get full of dirt yet they chew them, essentially creating a 'sandpaper' effect.

I quit giving my dogs hard bones when one of my dogs cracked a molar on one.

 Quote: Mary Roach

Im not %100 sure that the bones did it but I dont know how she would have worn them down that far otherwise.
has this happened to anyone? I was a little suprised that it happened so soon, she isnt that old.

My 2.5 year old slab fractured a molar this fall gnawing on a marrow bone and we ended up doing an expensive root canal to save the tooth. That's really an aside to the point of my post, but it's sort of relevant (chewing on recreational bones) and it's what got us in to the dentist.... who noticed that Oscar ALSO has a slight malocclusion of his incisors, meaning the rows of his top and bottom front teeth don't exactly line up in a perfect bite. The result is that a few of his bottom incisors are being prematurely worn down by upper incisors - I had noted the wear previously, but thought it was from the teeth gnawing on bones, not the teeth gnawing on EACH OTHER. Not sure how this will progress as he gets older (as he's still quite young), maybe the wear will stop at some point, or maybe it will continue until the pulp of those incisors is exposed (though I really hope not...), at which point something will need to be done. For now, we're just watching them.

Mary, have you ever had your dog's bite checked by a dentist? She could have a similar malocclusion, perhaps effecting more than just one or two teeth... or not.

~Natalya

Nicos front teeth are horribly worn down from years of chewing on herself. They bleed a little bit when i give her a rawhide but only at the beginning and she is in no pain.

she gets the occasional rawhide bone as a treat but otherwise i stick to nylabones and kong type stuff for her.
She has such jawpower i worry about her with anything too hard anyway, she will crack marrow bones like its nuthin!

I havent had her checked yet. she doesnt have toys (im not evil, I promise, she just doesnt like them) doesnt play with with rocks or chew herself to that extent. shes not too fussy about personal grooming on anything but her precious feathers (on the back of her legs) which she occasionally licks smooth.
I do notice that the teeth meet with her top teeth so it is likely that they rub eachother. The top ones meet evenly with the uneven wear of the bottom ones.
like I said, its just the little front teeth on the BOTTOM only so maybe it is that the knuckle bones are too hard . she only uses those to scrape for marrow...