What is the latest advice for lingually displaced canines in a 9 week old WHWT

RE: Latest advice for lingually displaced canines in a 9 week old WHWT

Andrew Perry — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 09:56:00 GMT

I'd also agree with early extraction, the good news is that if the malocclusion is repeated in the permanent dentition (and I'd suggest asking the owner for twice monthly photos of the occlusion from 5.5 months of age) it's likely to be highly amenable to ball therapy. I've added the handout we provide to clients for guidance on use of balls to move teeth. This must be started early, and is unlikely to be effective beyond 7+ months of age.

www.vetsurgeon.org/.../Eastcott-A4-Ball-Therapy-Leaflet_2D00_v2.pdf

RE: Latest advice for lingually displaced canines in a 9 week old WHWT

Bob Partridge — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 11:54:54 GMT

As per EBH - apart from

1. There will be pain

RE: Latest advice for lingually displaced canines in a 9 week old WHWT

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 14:51:32 GMT

Dear Sarah

The advice remains unchanged. Extract the offending deciduos canines (704 and 804) as soon as you can. This is for several reasons:

1. There may be discomfort.

2. The damage to the maxillary soft tissues could become serious.

3. It's conventional wisdom that they may divert the permanent canines as they erupt. I have my doubts about this but why take the chance?

Then instigate ball play in the hope of influencing the eruption of the permanent canines into the correct occlusion. This can be successful.

It's likely that the permanent teeth will also be lingually displaced however. Then there are various options for orthodontic movement, while tooth shortening is also an option.

As longstanding forum perusers will know, personally I think tooth shortening is the best choice.

RE: Latest advice for lingually displaced canines in a 9 week old WHWT

Rob Davis — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 14:37:54 GMT

As Luke has said, I would advise extracting these ASAP. They are likely to be uncomfortable (there are often surprisingly deep indentations on the palatal mucosa where these impinge), the interlock can (in theory) prevent the mandibles from reaching their full growth potential, and the permanent canines will erupt on the lingual side of the deciduous ones.

Extraction of these can be a delicate process - it is easy to damage the permanent tooth buds which are currently developing in the jaw, so radiography is essential. I always warn owners about the possibility of damage to the successional teeth. I would say the sooner this is done the better.

It is also sensible to discuss breeding intentions at this stage as this is likely to be a hereditary issue.

RE: Latest advice for lingually displaced canines in a 9 week old WHWT

Luke Bam — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 18:15:46 GMT

Hi Sarah, while we wait for the Dentists to respond I’ll give my thoughts:

In my experience these puppies are incredibly challenging to photograph so well done! I have zoomed in as much as I can and it looks to me like 804 is impinging on the gingiva just mesially and slightly palatally to 504 rather than tilting buccally and sitting nicely in the diastema. This appears to be a class 1 malocclsuion.

If that is the case then I would prescribe analgesia and surgically (and very carefully!) extract 804 on the grounds that this is causing trauma and pain and will not help the soon to be erupting permanent tooth. Hopefully, given the lack of skeletal abnormality/appropriate jaw length, the permanent tooth could be ‘tipped’ out labially as it erupts using ball therapy/incline plane/ crown extensions if necessary (or perform crown shortening/extraction instead if that failed) but I will leave that to someone more qualified to comment on!

apologies if i have misunderstood the photo.