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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on March 20, 2014 at 11:07pm

I would go with the extraction. My rescue Teddy just had 16 teeth pulled 9 days ago. Teddy is doing awesome but I still have him on soft food but then 16 is a far amount of teeth.

I would think a root canal and a cap sound much worse although I've had both but then I could understand what they were doing. I also lost my tooth a year later:(

Cutting off the tooth below the gumline sounds awful...IMO

Good luck to the both of you!

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Permalink Reply by Jenny, Tucker, & Zoey on March 20, 2014 at 11:43pm

Tucker had an extraction (on a upper incisor, not a canine) and it was really not a big deal. The other thing to consider is the cost-- a root canal was going to be over $1,000 here vs. the extraction which I think was about $300 However I have read that it is more ideal to do a root canal on a canine tooth due to the depth of the root and the trauma from removing it. Either way-- I'm sure he'll be glad to have his tooth fixed-- I bet it hurts!

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Permalink Reply by Ginny and Diggory on March 21, 2014 at 7:17pm

Ginny just had an extraction because she broke an upper molar.  They had to suture her gingival flap.  Besides being groggy when I brought her home, she seems completely unbothered by it.  I gave her canned food for about five days and she had antibiotics and pain pills, then she went back to dry food without a problem.  Really, she did better than I expected and the procedure when just fine.  I would recommend the extraction.  What would happen if the cap were to fall off down the road anyhow? 

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Permalink Reply by Vicky Hay on March 21, 2014 at 8:29pm

Unless Merlin is out there bringing down the occasional stag to supplement the pack's groceries, I'd go for the extraction. Domestic dogs don't need their canines. My friend has a rescued dachshund that's lost a bunch of his teeth (expensively!!!), and he's just fine. Has lived to a ripe old age and is still going strong.

Wait, what? Did the vet seriously suggest a root canal and cap? With a straight face? What on earth is he smoking? And does he have a gold-plated cash register? That might be not be a good sign. ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on March 21, 2014 at 9:20pm

The love of my life lost his upper canine tooth and did just fine....my one corgi now had to have her upper molar pulled and was back to chewing rawhides when her recovery period was over.

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Permalink Reply by Avyon on March 27, 2014 at 10:03am

Im going to agree with everyone else. Extraction is probably your best bet. Charlie got his lower canine removed a year or two ago and has been doing just fine. He had some back teeth removed as well but that didnt seem to make any difference.

Recovery wasnt that bad we just had him eat soft food for a while and kept an eye on it to make sure it didn't get infected. Pills as usual after any procedure. I also learned you can just make soft food from grinding your hard food and adding water if you want to save money. Just be careful and make sure its very fine and has no chunks.

He plays and chews just fine after taking some time to figure out a system (bleeds a little more after roughhousing but you get used to it). I think the only thing to look out for is that side having dirtier teeth then the other but its not a huge difference. He tends to favor chewing on one side because of the lost canine. 

While we thought getting the platinum canine replacement (or whatever the police dogs get) would look rather spiffy we decided against it ;) (I think my vet offered as a joke anyways knowing we would reject it). 

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Permalink Reply by k g read on March 28, 2014 at 6:47pm

We are now almost a week out from the extraction and he seems to be doing okay. Sore and a little picky eating but I feel like we made the right decision. Thanks you guys for the info and advice.

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