Surely on more than one occasion you have tried to count the teeth you have, so you will also be intrigued to know how many teeth your puppy has. Knowing how many teeth a dog has is very simple, since it depends on its age.
When a puppy is born it has no teeth, neither can it see or hear, it is simply guided by its instinct and smell to reach its mother’s breast to feed. It is from the seventh or eighth week of life, when the first teeth emerge that we know as baby teeth.
A puppy with full teeth has between twenty-eight and thirty-two baby teeth, depending on the breed. They are not the teeth with which you will stay the rest of your life, since these teeth only last a few months.
When the puppies are six or seven months old, they exchange their baby teeth for their permanent teeth. Much bigger and stronger, teeth with which to eat practically any food including hard bones. An adult dog or puppy that has already changed its milk teeth for a permanent one, has a total of forty-two teeth in its mouth. Twenty at the top and twenty-two at the bottom.
The moment when the baby teeth fall out pushed by the definitive teeth is called a teething period, It is a time when our dog will have pain in his gums and he will probably want to bite absolutely everything, to ease his pain.
It is important to leave teethers (toys) at your disposal, as they will help a lot to ease the pain. It is highly recommended to start getting our dog used to being left clean the teeth with a brush with our finger, since when you have the definitive teeth we will have to clean them often and in general they are a little reluctant to mess with your teeth.
The teeth of dogs are designed to eat meat, it is a denture of a total carnivore. The fangs serve to grab their prey, the incisors to cut or grab next to the fangs. Dogs’ molars and premolars are very sharp, also known as butcher teeth, as they can cut even the hardest bone.
Dogs can suffer the same diseases in their mouth and teeth as humans, tartar, gingivitis, cavities, infections … that is why it is very important to have proper dental hygiene.
