Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Developmental Stages of Puppy Teeth

By Dirk Gruenberg


Everyone knows that when babies are born, they don't have any teeth - it is the same with puppies. Their teeth only come through later.

In fact, they will come through in stages. The whole process takes quite some time and in the following paragraphs you'll get a sense of what to expect:

Stage one is the development of milk teeth: the teeth start emerging out from the age of 3 - 6 - 8 weeks and will continue to be in different stages of teeth development for the next few months. They cut around 28 deciduous teeth.

Naturally, we cannot all teeth to come out at the same time. In fact, you can be pretty sure that some teeth come through before others. Specifically, the incisor teeth are likely to be the first ones you'll see. They are the ones located in the very middle of your puppy's mouth.

In the first weeks of their lives, puppies are dependent on their mothers for being nursed. However, over time, as the pup's sharp milk teeth come out, the nursing procedure starts to hurt for the mother, which is why she begins to then wean her puppy.

Stage two is teething or losing of teeth: teething is the process of shedding of milk or deciduous teeth. This stage begins from around the age of 3-7 months.

Even though your puppy should regularly lose milk teeth, you may never get to see them. Puppies often swallow them. But, over time, you will notice adult teeth growing in their place.

It is the same painful experience as we humans suffer. At this stage puppies start biting and chewing on anything they get grip of, for easing of pain and massaging their gums.

And finally, the last stage: as the milk teeth keep falling out, the adult teeth begin to take their places. This, too, is a fairly long process that can start as early as the third month and will only be done by the seventh month. At the end, your dog should have a full set of grown adult teeth.




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