How Many Teeth Should Dogs Have?

By Kay Hisano | Dated March 13, 2024

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All dogs will start with 28 baby teeth and they will start to fall out at about 3 months of age. I’m sure most puppy owners have experienced the dreadful bitey, shark teeth phase that puppies have. These baby teeth should be permanent adult teeth by 6 months of age.

Many smaller breeds will present with, retained deciduous teeth, which are baby teeth that never fell out on their own. These retained baby teeth will commonly be extracted at the time of desexing. On the contrary, a different issue that our pets can present with is an unerupted tooth. A dog’s teeth can stay unerupted for multiple reasons including entrapment beneath the gum line, overcrowding of teeth, and trauma to the tooth bud during development.

Pica came to Gordon Vet as his owners noticed him limping. On examination, Dr. Jenna noticed that he was missing his lower premolar, and had a swelling around the missing tooth. Pica was admitted for further diagnostics of his forelimb and tooth.

After taking a radiograph of Pica’s mouth we could see that a tooth had still been hiding underneath the gums, unerupted. Around the tooth, a sac of fluid had formed creating what is known as a dentigerous cyst. These cysts can gradually enlarge in size over time and put pressure on the nearby structures on the jawbone and surrounding teeth. We often see this issue in the canines and premolars of dogs.

Dr. John carefully removed the unerupted tooth and the cystic tissue had been debrided to reduce the chance of the cyst reforming in the future.

Hiding, unerupted tooth

After extraction of tooth

2 weeks after his tooth removal and good rest with anti-inflammatory treatment for his limp, Pica is feeling and looking better than ever!