When Do Adult Teeth Come in Puppy?

It's important to keep an eye on the growing teeth of puppies. Puppies should have all of their puppy teeth fully grown by the time they are three months old. All puppies should have lost all of their puppy teeth by the time they are six months old. Unlike people, the adult teeth come right in behind the puppy teeth, so there isn't a noticeable time of gaps in the teeth.

Puppies of toy dog breeds like Chihuahuas or Yorkshire terriers are more prone to having problems with the puppy teeth not falling out when they are supposed to. They may need to have surgery to remove the retained puppy teeth. Sometimes the tooth can be removed without surgery, if it's only loosely hanging on.

Puppy teeth that refuse to fall out need to be removed as soon as possible. Leaving them not only leaves the bite misaligned, but leaves the dog more prone to biting himself and causing an injury. Food trapped between the puppy tooth and the adult tooth decays and can cause considerable pain to the dog's mouth. As the dog ages, he will have more problems trying to eat and will eventually suffer from malnutrition or digestive upsets.

Puppies chew to relive the pain of teething. It's important to keep a variety of things you want her to chew within reach of her mouth at all times, because if you don't, she will chew on anything, no matter how valuable or inedible. Good things to chew include dog toys, rawhide and Nylabone (see Resources). Chewing also releases endorphins in the puppy's body, so she learns to chew for pleasure for the rest of her lives.

Some puppies make a minimum of fuss about loosing their puppy teeth. You may never even find the puppy teeth. But some other puppies will bleed noticeably, paw at their mouths and whimper. The puppy will also have an insatiable desire to chew anything. Use of a foul-tasting but non-poisonous bitter apple spray on furniture, electric wires or your hands can help condition the puppy where not to chew.

It can be difficult to see if there is a retained puppy tooth. If the puppy or young dog has trouble eating, has breath that smells worse than usual and has more tartar on the teeth, chances are that there is a retained tooth. The dog may also have trouble picking things up in his mouth or eat with his head tilted.