Unaligned puppy teeth?

My 4 %26amp;1/2 maltese puppy 2 front and bottom teeth aren%26#039;t aligned. Each tooth from each set is slightly more %26quot;forward%26quot; than the other. I%26#039;m very worried if there is a big problem. Is this normal or not? i%26#039;m afraid that my nephew tugged away her toys from her mouth too hard.

Unaligned puppy teeth?
Well she is just starting to lose her baby teeth, why don%26#039;t you wait to see what happens when the adult teeth come in. I don%26#039;t think that your nephew is moving your puppy%26#039;s teeth.. Did you buy the dog to breed, or is she a pet?
Reply:If they%26#039;re puppy teeth, they%26#039;re gonna fall out anyway. Just wait and see when the adult teeth come in. If they come in crooked, consult your vet. There are ways to align them, or they may even decide to pull them.
Reply:my baby shiba inu had crooked teeth that i noticed and then a week to two weeks later they were fine....the crooked ones are loose baby teeth and the straight ones are either new teeth or still anchored baby teeth....i thought something was wrong too....but he is fine now...just wait a week or two and check them again....my pup is 5 months now and his bottom row are starting to go out....
Reply:It is typical for most small breeds to have this problem. Puppy teeth are just that... They will fall out and should straighten up. You will want to look at the jaw alignment more than anything at this point.





Also, to take into consideration, it is typical of small breeds to get their adult teeth in without loosing their puppy teeth. This usually happens with the front teeth on top and bottom, especially the canines. If they do not fall out on their own, you will need to get them pulled by your Vet.
Reply:Yes, she%26#039;s still in her puppy teeth stage but the teeth you%26#039;re talking about (her incisors if they%26#039;re the very front one) are probably adults at this point (others like the canines, or fangs, will still be babys).


A lot of dogs have poorly aligned teeth that are a bit crooked - I wouldn%26#039;t worry about it too much but if her mouth is too crowded and it is causing problems (or likely to cause problems) talk to your vet about it - they might opt to remove some teeth at spay or neuter time at 6 months.
Reply:http://lowchensaustralia.com/health/teet... will tell you more than you wanted to know about teeth, including the age range at which various teeth tend to erupt.





http://www.akc.org/breeds/maltese/ will tell you that a Maltese%26#039;s bite should either be edge-to-edge or scissor. For a scissor bite the top incisors should be just far-enough forward to slide down the front of the bottom incisors if they kept going.





In almost all breeds there are blood-lines which produce overshot mouths, meaning that the top teeth are further ahead than is proper for a scissor bite. Some of those bloodlines are only temporarily overshot - in my breed, anything no worse than 1/8th inch overshot at 6 months is almost certain to come right by adulthood, but I cannot guess what distance offers hope for a Maltese. Other blood-lines stay over-shot and should be neutered..





Dogs with incorrect mouths should NOT be bred from, but puppy-millers don%26#039;t let THAT stop them, and many BYBreeders won%26#039;t even know what overshot means.





Slightly overshot is not a problem for a neutered pet. It becomes a problem only when so major that the pooch cannot feed properly.





Crooked teeth are another issue. In most cases the permanent tooth is supposed to push the deciduous tooth out of the way - easily done, because at the right stage the root of the deciduous tooth is dissolved. But sometimes the dissolving starts too slowly, so that the permanent tooth has to grow at an angle BESIDE the deciduous tooth - some people are able to grasp the deciduous tooth between finger %26amp; thumb and pull, but most wisely go to their vet to make sure that the right tooth is the one that gets pulled on!


And some dogs have such poor genetics that their teeth are irregularly spaced and pointing at all sorts of angles.





The better the breeder you got her from, the less likely she is to have a %26quot;mouth%26quot; problem. But if you got her from a pet shop or a puppy mill or a BYB, who knows?


Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_F...


%26quot;In GSDs%26quot; as of 1967



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