My senior dog's tooth is loose. Should I let it fall out naturally?

Bad teeth are common in older dogs. Loose teeth can cause problems with eating and chewing, but what is also very important they can cause chronic mouth pain. You should take BoBo to your vet for clinical examination and to assess what would be the best way to help your dog. In most of the cases, cleaning and scaling teeth under general anaesthesia is recommended. Also, extraction of loose teeth is often necessary.

Hi and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I am sorry to hear the Aevie has a loose canine tooth. Even though her teeth looked great two months ago, most dental disease occurs underneath the gum line. Therefore, the gums and teeth may have looked great but there may have been the beginning of disease under the gum line. I recommend taking Aevie to your veterinarian to get another assessment and likely discuss a dental cleaning with dental radiographs and extractions of that canine too plus any additional teeth that need to be extracted. Good luck!

When pets develop loose teeth, it generally indicates there’s dental disease and they should be addressed with a dental cleaning. I recommend to get a second opinion. Although the tooth will eventually fall out, she may have other teeth that are diseased or will become diseased with out proper preventive care. I hope this helps.

A tooth falling out is definitely a concern and a sign of severe dental disease. While it is not an emergency tonight, I would recommend an evaluation by a veterinarian as he will likely need anesthesia for a full dental cleaning, dental x-rays and extractions of any diseased teeth.

It depends how loose it is, if it is very loose you can try, but it might be painful. if it's not loose enough she will need to be sedated for that, you will need to take her to the vet.

Thanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I do see a baby tooth there (the really pointy sharp tooth) and that is likely the tooth you are saying is really loose. Usually pets lose their baby teeth by the age of 6 months, so Vader is a bit of a late bloomer. I would recommend having your vet take a look at the tooth in person to see if it can be manipulated to come out. It may just come out on its own, but again, usually by this age the baby teeth are already gone. No need to worry too much however. If it does not come out on its own, then it can always be extracted at a later date. It is best to extract them to avoid overcrowding of the teeth and advanced dental disease. I would recommend brushing Vaders teeth often (3 times a week) to help remove foodstuffs that might get stuck there. Otherwise, plan on seeing your vet soon for further care if it doesn't happen to fall out soon. Best wishes with Vader and good luck with his stubborn baby tooth. Take care.

I would definitely recommend leaving it alone because you could cause some pain and injury by wiggling on it. However I would consider having your vet take a look at it because safe extraction if the canine tooth may be recommended to avoid having a huge hole left behind for foodstuffs to then get clogged into. If your vet extracts the tooth instead of just letting it fall out, the vet can then close the hole with suture. This is the best approach when dealing with diseases canine teeth especially, because this is the only tooth that can leave a hole that directly communicates with the nasal passages (oronasal fistula), so we take extra precautions with this tooth in particular. Schedule an appt with your local vet soon and I hope everything turns out well for your cat Zoe.