Puppy Teeth
Our
Siberian Husky, Red Heeler X is just on 5 months old. She lost two of her
puppy teeth a few days ago and now a third which was a K9 on the lower
jaw. How many teeth will she loose? The K9 was a surprise - I didn't
realise that she'd loose them too.
Dogs have 28 deciduous (temporary) teeth and 42 permanent teeth. Puppies have no teeth at birth, and grow deciduous teeth beginning their second week of life. At three months of age, the deciduous teeth begin to be replaced by the permanent teeth. The replacement process begins with the incisors, and moves backwards through the canines, premolars and finally the molars. The turnover process is usually complete by the time the dog is eight months old, with none of the original 28 deciduous teeth remaining. Most deciduous teeth are swallowed with food and never seen by the pet owner. Occassionally a deciduous tooth is merely pushed to the side and retained next to the permanent tooth. Retained deciduous teeth can be removed by a veterinarian.
The incisors turn over from deciduous to permanent from two to four months of age. The canines usually convert around six months of age. The premolars and molars follow in that order, with the last permanent molar erupting around eight months of age.
The exact schedule does vary from breed to breed.
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