winnie's sore gum

winnie has been losing teeth for the last month and a half, but yesterday I noticed something disturbing. One of her botton back molars was all bloddy and the gum looked bruised. the tooth is loose but in tact and the tooth is dark at the bottom (dried blood we think) is this cause for alarm or should we let nature take its course and let her lose her teeth when they want to fall out. Is she at risk for infection?

Basically do you think this is vet wothy, because I hate to go in there if this is something that happens in the teething process sometimes.

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Permalink Reply by Charlie on March 12, 2008 at 12:56pm

Sounds perfectly normal. The roots of the baby teeth are absorbed by the body as the adult tooth starts to push up. The tooth should fall out on its own in a day or two. If you want to try to help it along, wrap a towel around your finger and give it a rub. You do not want to cause the puppy a lot of stress and make him hand-shy around his mouth, so if a rub or two does not knock the tooth out then just quit and try again tomorrow if it's not out on its own.

You can wet a rag, wring and freeze it. The cold "chew" can help the tooth come out and soothe the gums. Also any type of chew toy that the pup can get back to his molars will help.

The thing you do want to watch out for is seeing adult teeth coming in when the baby teeth are still in place and not at all loose. But that's a different story... ; - )

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Permalink Reply by Cindi on March 13, 2008 at 2:06pm

Good suggestions, Charlie, as always. But just to play devil's advocate...is Winnie crated? She could be chewing on the crate wires. If so, Charlie's suggestion of a frozen washrag is an excellent one. I wouldn't mess with her mouth much. If it's sore, she could get hand shy and you don't want that. Take a wait and see approach and follow Charlie's suggestions for looking for adult teeth. (Charlie, you rock!)

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Permalink Reply by winnie_the_dog on March 13, 2008 at 2:12pm

winnie is crated, thought we have never seen evidence of chewing on the crate i guess she could be. I think she may have hurt herself on a hard nylabone keyring she had broken. the bruises on the gums are fading, but the tooth is still there and now another molar on the other side of her mouth is looking the same way. she get frozen kongs and ice cubes, but has never liked the frozen wash cloth (perfers them at room temp.)

Since she is acting normal i will asume that this too shall pass.