[Gumbo's Dad]

Hello, I m writing on here due to being greatly concerned for my cairn cross. She also has some Yorkshire and Jack Russell in her. She has been doing very well except that at her first vet inspection we were told that she had an overshot jaw. We took her back 2 weeks later and are now being told that she needs an op to remove her lower canines to allow jaw to grow before adult teeth come through. The vet doesn't exactly fill me with confidence that the op will have any effect though and the whole things sounds like a load of pain and discomfort for Gumbo when she is doing so well. You can't see any evidence of the overshot jaw and she is eating well. I am going to ask for a second and third opinion from other local vets too before making a decision. Anyone out there have any experience of this? Is it worth the bother or is she better off as she is? She is a much loved family pet and we don't want to put her through any unnecessary trauma.
Thank you.

 

[LeoRose]

If she is severely overshot, then her lower adult canines could interfere with her ability to close her mouth, and could result in sores where they hit her upper jaw. I would ask your vet for a referral to a canine orthodontist, if at all possible.

 

[storyist]

I'm with LeoRose. I've had both a rescue puppy (pretty severe) and one of my own puppies (not that severe, but I wanted to show her, which I couldn't do if she didn't have a proper adult bite) with this problem and know of another rescue who had his adult canines cut down and root canals done (donated service). Additionally, one of my adopters had the adult lower canines pulled when they were hitting the roof of the mouth and causing sores. That works, but those lower canines are part of what enables a dog to keep its tongue in its mouth normally.

All of which is to say, in your shoes I'd see if there is a canine dentist in your area and if so, book a consult. The result on the two I mentioned above that I had control of were good. We pulled the lower canine baby teeth, and the rescue had a not great but okay adult bite. My own girl had a correct adult bite. The theory is if those lower canines are misaligned as puppy teeth, they hold things out of line and affect the placement and growth of the adult teeth.

It's also possible that your girl's bite isn't that bad and a specialist will recommend a wait and see approach. Or they may be so out of alignment that just pulling the baby teeth won't correct things. A specialist with experience in seeing a lot of these problems can give you a better prognosis than your regular vet - tell you what can/should be done, what that will probably do, and what things will probably be like down the line.

 

[DaySleepers]

Yup, check with a dental specialist if at all possible. We're super lucky that our clinic shares one with other nearby locations, so any complicated tooth issues get referred to him without needing a special referral - our youngest didn't have an overshot/undershot jaw, but took his time losing his puppy canines on both top and bottom, which made his lower adult teeth come in too far to the inside. Luckily, in our case the specialist could suggest some simple things we could do at home to encourage the teeth to set correctly so he wouldn't have them growing into the upper gums or roof of his mouth, and we didn't need any intervention more serious than pulling the last, stubborn puppy tooth. Hopefully a specialist will have more tools at their disposal to help you understand and fix the issue while preserving as many teeth as possible.