Why is a baby tooth stuck in my puppy's lip or muzzle at 6 months?

Question

While petting my 6 month old Black Lab I noticed on her left lip what appeared to be a small tooth pointing outward from her lip. I thought that maybe that a baby tooth pierced through her lip but there was no signs of any hole, sore or swelling from the inside of the lip. It actually appeared to be growing out of her lip. It didn't hurt or bother her at all even when touched the tooth and her lip. Ended up pulling it out with moderate effort with small pliers. See photos. Any ideas?? Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Female | unspayed | 6 months and 8 days old | 40 lbs

Christie Long, DVM · Accepted Answer

It's definitely a tooth, at 6 months of age I would expect Bella to have already lost her deciduous ("baby") canine teeth and for the adult ones to be nearly fully erupted. From the looks of things, this is definitely a deciduous tooth, as opposed to an adult one, as adult canine teeth have very long roots. Purely on speculation, I would wonder if Bella could have been playing with another puppy "friend" and some rough play could have caused the other puppy to lose the deciduous canine and have it become lodged in Bella's muzzle. Another explanation would be that it's Bella's deciduous canine tooth, and she somehow managed to get it wedged in her muzzle, again through playing. The important take-away here is that this is only part of a deciduous canine tooth, so to be absolutely sure that there isn't a piece of a root retained in her gumline (which can serve as a focus for chronic infection), I would recommend having your vet shoot a quick x-ray, maybe even while she's asleep for her spaying surgery, in order to be sure there's not a fragment of the tooth left behind. If there is, it should be a pretty simple matter to remove it at that time.

Why is a baby tooth stuck in my puppy's lip or muzzle at 6 months?

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