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How many teeth should a dog have?

6117 Views 17 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  Sibe
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I'm started to offer raw bones for dental health so last night I decided to take a "before" picture so I can see more easily if they are helping over time. Anyway, when I started looking at the pictures I noticed that she has one less tooth of the right side of her mouth than the left! (I'm referring to the tiny teeth just after the canines.) I'm not really too concerned about it health wise but I am curious. How many teeth is a dog supposed to have and why might one just be missing?

One tiny tooth (excuse my highly technical language, LOL).


Two tiny teeth.
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Hmm, I think there's only supposed to be one tooth there. She has a spare!
Hmm.. that is interesting.. now you got ME curious.. gonna have to check my boys tonight and see if both sides of their mouth are consistent with the amount of teeth.
Hmm, I think there's only supposed to be one tooth there. She has a spare!
Yeah, most of the pictures I'm finding show just one tooth there. She's a mutant!

Hmm.. that is interesting.. now you got ME curious.. gonna have to check my boys tonight and see if both sides of their mouth are consistent with the amount of teeth.
I would have never even noticed if I hadn't taken a picture. ;p
No idea, Holly has one less, right at the front, she lost it about a month ago, when out front playing with kids and a football, she didn't want to stop playing though, and was in no pain, it just came right out all in one go.
Haha yeah I attempted to do what your doing with the whole before and after picture thing before RMB's and raw meals and such, when I was trying to decrease the amount of kibble and increase RMB's and muscle meats and such, to see if I would notice a difference, with my Shiba especially because he's the one that I was noticing a bit of bad breathe and more build up on his teeth (reason why I started decreasing kibble meals and increasing recreational chewing bones and raw meals) but he absolutely HATES having his mouth touched, so I can't even hold him and pry his mouth open long enough to take pictures, so I just have to eyeball it, unfortunately. For my young boy, it doesn't really matter becuase he started out primarily raw fed, and has had lots of bones and such and he's young so he doesn't have dental problems or build up..yet. But my 6 year old Shiba has been half kibble, half raw fed for the last 6 years. I cheated a bit with Cash though, to jumpstart the teeth cleaning, I have luckily been able to use my fingernails to scrape off the little bit of build up he had on his gum lines, took forever, of course because he would fight me (tooth and nail literally!) and since trying to force him to chew on more RMB's and such (he's not a big chewer..so this is hard), and basically feeding him a total of 1/2 cup of kibble a week, as opposed to 1/4 cup a day he was getting the last few years.. over the last couple months i've noticed a difference in the teeth and breathe for sure.. but I would have liked to been able to get pictures to really be able to see the physical difference.

Hopefully you will notice a difference with introducing some recreational chewing and what not.. I never used to give my Shiba any bones, primarily because I'd buy them for him and he'd never touch them.. then of course as soon as a second dog is in the picture getting bones and enjoying them, the Shiba wants them now too.. as mentioned i've noticed slight results but i'm just now beginning to notice even better results that I'm gradually eliminating kibble from his diet (Pretty soon, his one small raw meal a day will be sufficient for him at his age and activity level). It will be interesting to see how Thumpers teeth turn out over time with his current diet. I don't think I could ever afford to feed him a %100 raw diet day in a day out because he eats significantly more than the Shiba lol, but supplementing with the RMB's and recreational chewing things and what not i'm hoping to keep his dental health in check :)

Still curious about the amount of teeth ... haha, that is going to be the first thing I do when I get home!
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Ha that's funny. My GSD's been missing several teeth on one side of her mouth since she was a young dog. The vet never talked about it. She used to play pretty roughly with a soccer ball, though. It could have been that or just she's another mutant. haha
PackMamma, she's pretty used to having her mouth man-handled but you still should have seen how many pictures I had to take to get ones that were even marginally clear. ;p As you can see she really only has issues with the very back teeth and even that isn't very bad, but I'd like to nip it in the bud if I can. It kind of irritates me that I can't manage to keep them clean!

I was reading a little bit more about it and I guess it turns out that some breeds have more or less teeth than others. Strange.
Haha I finally got a pic of Thumpers teeth.. this is after two weeks of being on %100 raw and chewing on recreational/raw meaty bones a few times a week.

Cash still wont let me pry his mouth open long enough to get a picture, but his teeth are obviously not in as great of shape as Thumpers, due to mostly his age, and being partially kibble fed and not being a big chewer most his life. However, I check his mouth regularily now, and although he's chipping some of his teeth on raw bones, his teeth are improving big time since he's been %100 raw fed and chewing up more bones. Still not a big chewer, so I have to feed him more boney meals to get him to clean those teeth!

Pic quality isn't great.. man its hard holding a dogs mouth open with one hand and trying to take a pic with an iphone with the other lol
Tooth Mouth Jaw Lip Organ
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I think those are premolars. The Vet told me that my dog has two extra teeth no both sides, and they're small like the one behind the canine in the picture above... so he has 3 small ones in a row. Also, his gums are not pink... they're purple... always have been... and the Vet always admires his teeth, otherwise. We think he is Lab-GSD mix. We don't suspect Chow.

However, a Chow is said to have two more teeth than other dogs... ???
I think those are premolars. The Vet told me that my dog has two extra teeth no both sides, and they're small like the one behind the canine in the picture above... so he has 3 small ones in a row. Also, his gums are not pink... they're purple... always have been... and the Vet always admires his teeth, otherwise. We think he is Lab-GSD mix. We don't suspect Chow.

However, a Chow is said to have two more teeth than other dogs... ???
Huh, I guess it just must be pretty common for dogs to have a variable number of premolars. I'm pretty sure when I was reading about it that there were many breeds with more or less teeth than "normal."
I think those are premolars. The Vet told me that my dog has two extra teeth no both sides, and they're small like the one behind the canine in the picture above... so he has 3 small ones in a row. Also, his gums are not pink... they're purple... always have been... and the Vet always admires his teeth, otherwise. We think he is Lab-GSD mix. We don't suspect Chow.

However, a Chow is said to have two more teeth than other dogs... ???
Cash's mouth looks like a tied-dyed splash of black, purple and pink.. its a pretty colorful mouth, not sure if its a common Shiba thing?
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Abbylynn is strange too ... her gums are jet black and the top of them are dark purple? :/ Vet just said "Hmmmm" last time she had a check up. Lol! :)

Wish it was better pics ... sorry ... cell phone. :(

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Mine has two on one side and one on the other like yours! I never noticed. I also just noticed how gross her teeth are... Time to find some RMBs!
You should see Mia's teeth. She's only got five top front teeth before her canines and one came in sideways and backwards. She's also missing a tooth on both sides of her mouth on the upper jaw, actually the one you're calling the 'small tooth'.
Huh, I guess it just must be pretty common for dogs to have a variable number of premolars. I'm pretty sure when I was reading about it that there were many breeds with more or less teeth than "normal."
JC had to have one of his premolars pulled, the one Sydney has two of actually (it was loose somehow). The vet informed me that many dogs don't actually have that particular tooth. I thought he was getting old and crazy, but apparently its true haha.
Mia's strange teeth:


miateeth by Summer_Papillon, on Flickr
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I think there should only be one. My first thought was that it could be a retained puppy tooth, but the teeth look just alike.. I would expect a puppy tooth to me a bit smaller and sharper.

Denali's teeth at a year and a half old


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