What Happens if My Puppy Knocks a Tooth Loose?

Most pet owners care about their pets' health, so taking a simple problem and blowing it out of proportion is easy. The other issue is that certain problems are associated with puppies that inexperienced dog owners may not know about and may panic when they occur. A good example is when a puppy loses or has a tooth knocked out, which is not a huge problem for human children and for dogs, even less so.

  1. Puppy Teeth

    • Puppies have no teeth when they are born and will not develop any until the sixth or eighth week, which means by the time you take your new puppy home, it has all 28 of its razor sharp baby, or deciduous, teeth. These are like 28 sewing needles in its mouth as anyone who has received a playful nip of a young dog will know.

    Falling out Naturally

    • At around the age of three months, the first baby teeth will start to fall out, which will continue until the age of about eight months. The first to go are the incisors, followed by the premolars and the canines. The last teeth to emerge are the adult molars, at which point the puppy will move on to adult food. The process of the teeth falling out is identical to that of humans. The adult teeth push through, knocking out the puppy teeth and absorbing the roots.

    Adult Teeth

    • Adult dogs have around 42 teeth; some breeds have more, some less. The only difference is that the new teeth are not as sharp as the puppy teeth and now feature adult molars to grind up food. Previously puppies only had premolars as their diet was a lot more liquid based.

    Loose Tooth

    • The process of loosing teeth for a puppy is greatly accelerated compared to human children. A good chance exists that if the tooth is loose, it will fall out soon anyway. When human lose teeth, first a tooth becomes loose, and eventually it falls out; the same holds true for puppies. Puppies are boisterous and may knock a tooth loose, but as the process is so fast there is little that can be done. Look inside the puppy's mouth for signs of infection if a tooth comes loose early; if any symptoms develop, take it to the veterinarian, who may prescribe antibiotics.