Dog's teeth

[cecy]

My dog has clean teeth except on his canine (just one) which has what feels like "pitting" I can't seem to get it off. Any suggestions?

[lankeela]

There is a condition called canine hypoplasia which causes a lack of enamel on one or more teeth, all in some dogs. There is no cure, and the teeth cannot ever be cleaned. It is considered hereditary although can 'skip' generations, so badly affected dogs should not be bred from.

Unless the tooth is causing discomfort then I would just continue cleaning the teeth as normal and make sure that any plaque is removed, either by cleaning or by giving bones/chews, which will help stop the tooth deteriorating.
I have known dogs badly affected with this, but the teeth are still strong and stay in place all their lives. It is just not very nice to look at.

[lankeela]

Just to add, some people call this 'distemper teeth' because dogs used to get discoloured teeth after being affected by distemper, or after a vaccination for it. Sometimes a rabies jab can affect the teeth as well, but it could be that this is canine hypoplasia and these other things were blamed for it due to lack of knowledge of the condition.

[lankeela]

I would be very interested to know what breed your dog is!

[lankeela]

Also known as 'Akita Teeth' as they suffer from it a lot:

http://www.akitalove.com/teeth.html