Meet June Bug, a 7-month old Dachshund mix who is, well, cute as a bug. 
You might wonder how a 7-month old dog could have dental issues warranting dental work, but her problem is all too common in puppies. June Bug had a retained deciduous canine—one of her baby teeth didn’t fall out. When a baby tooth is retained, it takes up some of the space the permanent tooth needs. This crowds and pushes the permanent tooth and can result in the tooth ending up in the wrong place, hitting other teeth and causing pain and dysfunction. In people, orthodontics can help correct these problems later in life. And while they do have such devices for pets, most of us would agree that avoiding them is a priority. That’s why it is better to deal with this problem early on. In June Bug’s case, we sedated her and extracted the retained baby tooth. This will allow the adult tooth to move into its proper location and save June Bug a world of hurt down the road. While it is normal for adult teeth to come in before baby teeth fall out, there should be overlap of these teeth for only 1 to 2 weeks. So if you look in your pup’s mouth and see two teeth where there should be one, get her in for an assessment with us.
