Canine Gum Disease

Canine teeth

The dog’s  teeth have different kind; Fangs for grabbing and puncturing, incisors for nibbling, premolars for tearing, and molars for crushing bone, they still has the same equipment for eating, grooming, greeting, and defense. Since then

Like us humans, dogs have two sets of teeth, the deciduous teeth or milky teeth, and the permanent teeth. The dog teeth are replaced in following manner, the incisors first, and then fangs, and lastly premolars. When puppies’ teeth start to erupt, it can be really frustrating; the puppy bites everything he can reach, from a body parts to anything valuable, just to relieve the pain.

The roots of the deciduous or baby teeth should be absorbed in the gums when the adult permanent tooth starts to erupt. Retained deciduous teeth may be the cause of bad bite, an abnormality which can cause tooth to decay. If the deciduous teeth did not fall out when the adult teeth erupted, then it should be removed by the vet.

A dog normally has six incisors on the front of the upper jaw and 6 on the front of the lower. They use these incisors shredding meat from bones and to groom themselves and others.  The mutual grooming we sometimes see in dogs is a form of greeting and a bonding behavior to maintain pack order.

A dog’s tooth is one of the scariest looking teeth. They look like pictures of ferocious wild creatures that can lead to fear mild mannered dogs that show their teeth a lot. Wolves often times use their fangs to catch grab and rip apart their prey; but dogs use them to hold an objects in their mouths, or to defend their masters or themselves when the situation calls for it.

Four premolars are aligned on each side of both the upper and  the lower jaw, just at the back of the fangs. These are the shredding tools of the dogs, used to rip large size chunks of meat from their prey animals. Although dogs no longer hunt, and they depend on us for survival, dog can still eat in a primitive manner like their wild cousins, the wolves, by grabbing meat from the side of their mouth and ripping the meat off the bone.

Dogs use their premolars mainly to chew on large bones, rawhides, and their chew toys. They would hold the toys between their front paws and grab it from the side of their mouth by tilting their jaws to the side.

The top jaw has two molars on each side, and the bottom jaw has three. These are the crushing teeth, use by wolves to crack caribou bones and by dogs to finish off a large biscuit.

Like us people, dogs can have problems with their teeth, ranging any from retained milk teeth and overcrowding to more severe tooth decay. Pet owners should periodically check their pet’s teeth, provide them chew bones and other safe chew toys, use biscuit treats so a dog can exercise his jaws, and lastly, feed them a kibbled diet.