Highway is a happy and boisterous 4 year old German shepherd. His attentive owner one day noticed an odour coming from his mouth. While in getting a sore paw checked he asked his veterinarian to look in the mouth to see if there was a problem. To everyone’s shock and surprise there was a hole in the roof of his mouth that opened all the way into his nasal passage. It was caused by his lower canine tooth that was entering his palate on the inside of his upper canine tooth, hidden from view. Highway had been born with a lower jaw that was narrower than his upper jaw. This is a common problem in dogs, especially in cases where the two parents have different shaped heads. Upper and lower jaws are inherited separately.
The lower canine teeth (fangs) had also over the years worn down the insides of the upper canine teeth. One upper canine tooth had to be extracted as the tooth was too worn away and the hole into the nose was too severe to be repaired without removal of this tooth. So the hole into the nose was repaired however the cause – a base narrow lower canine – had to be corrected. Both lower canine teeth were shortened and the pulp on the insides of these teeth received root canal treatment.
Finally a fractured upper incisor that was infected and likely also painful was extracted.
Highway’s owner deserves recognition for the care that he took to ensure that his dog did not pick up objects or chew on himself during the 2 week healing period. A few rolls of duct tape were needed to continuously repair the cone that Highway wore day and night.
Thanks to an attentive and caring owner Highway is back to his old boisterous happy self with a functional sweet smelling mouth happily giving out kisses.
