Fractured/Broken Teeth: Extraction or Root Canal?

I've got a question regarding broken teeth, particularly premolars, with my corgis. My girl already had one premolar removed due to a fractured tooth, and currently has broken the other top premolar as well. My boy has had his top premolar fractured for over a yr, and just recently fractured his other. Anyways, the girl's remaining fractured tooth and one of the boy's just seem to be chips out of the ennamel. However with the boy's newly fracture tooth, I'm definitely seeing some pulp and I'm sure that something will have to be done (last yr, the vet said to just watch the other broken tooth for signs of problems, but none so far). SOOO, my question is this: root canal or extraction? Does anyone have experience with either of these options? Would a root canal even work on a premolar? My other question is should I have both upper premolars removed at the same time, even if one is fractured but isn't causing any issues? We are going to see the vet next week, but I wanted to see what experiences others have had regarding this issue.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on March 20, 2011 at 7:52pm

extraction and get it all done at once. Worse case scenario you get the one tooth extracted and 6 months later the other tooth starts causing problems and you have to go through anesthesia again. Dogs do fine with NO teeth, ask any chihuahua owner out there. I'd get them all taken care of now at one time. Maybe ask if root canal is even an option, many times with dogs if its not a canine they'll just take it out because they do so well without them.

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on March 20, 2011 at 8:18pm

Take your vet's advice. The big question is how are they breaking their teeth? I had to ban nylabones at our house because Sparty cracked a couple molars. Even though they were his favorites, I remain firm and he hasn't broken any more teeth since.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Ambrosius on March 21, 2011 at 8:13pm

Thanks for the replies. I kinda figured it would make more sense to just extract both teeth at the same time, but I'm of the mind that I should try to salvage if possible! My other thing is that my girl (who's already had one tooth out) seems to have ongoing infection between the teeth below the one that was taken out....I've been wondering if having the tooth removed made the lower teeth more susceptible to infection. Has anyone ever noted this problem with tooth extraction?

As for the why, most likely culprit is nylabones. They are unfortunately "advanced chewers" and there is nothing else that they like that they can't destroy. I talked to the vet the last time, and consensus was it was catch-22 with the nylabones...helps keep teeth clean, but also more likely to break a tooth. Le sigh.