Question on chipped dog tooth

Hi there, I have a quick question. Has anyone ever had any dental work done on their dog? One of my dogs broke a tooth, the molar on the left upper jaw. The tooth seems to be fine except that you can flip up the chipped piece. It is not a very big piece and still in the gums. The first vet I went to told me my dog has tartar and I should brush his teeth. So I did that and noticed even more the tooth was broken. I went to the next vet and he said either to do nothing or have that small broken piece removed. To be able to remove it, my dog needs to get anasthesia which I am not too crazy about. He is 4 years old - so young enough to make it but still... Otherwise, my doggie is fine. He eats and plays as usual with his brother. Any comments? I am drawn into 2 directions: I want to have the piece removed to avoid any future infections but I am reluctant to have him go through surgery with anathesia if I don't really have to.

Dental work under anaethesia is a common, routine procedure. Unless your puppers has a medical condition that makes him a bad candidate for anaethesia, it should be just fine. I used to work in a vet clinic and saw HUNDREDS of dentals done, with no problems.

Consider, as well, that not only will you be preventing infection in the mouth from the broken tooth (that's an open wound right now!), you will also get a dog back who has a sparkly-clean white smile and a much healthier mouth if they clean all the teeth while he's under!! Most pets are considerably happier after a cleaning (imagine never brushing your teeth for 4 years!!!)

It's also much easier to do brushing once the teeth have been all spiffied up!!!
Good luck!

I totally agree w/ the previous poster, as long as your dog is in good health, I'd have the dental work done. Tooth infections can become quite serious if left untreated, and it sounds to me like that tooth is an infection waiting to happen. Better to prevent problems NOW than deal with real trouble later.

We had the same issue last year and had the tooth removed. The vet said they can get infected and get worse, and also we noticed that the Kody was getting foul breath from the chipped tooth and infection.

We had the blood tests done and had the tooth removed, I think it is probably the exact same one you are talking about.

He still enjoys chewing his bones.

Thank you for your comments. You make me feel much better.