Making sure your dog’s teeth are properly looked after will go a long way towards keeping them healthy for life.
Growing Puppy Teeth
Puppies, almost without exception, are born without teeth. They have 28 temporary teeth (called puppy teeth, milk teeth or deciduous teeth) that start coming in at about three to four weeks of age. They generally fall out between 14 and 30 weeks, when they are replaced by 42 adult teeth.
Puppy’s teeth are very sharp with the main purpose of starting their lives as carnivores when trying their first samples of meat. Some other hypotheses about this sharpness refer to the period of weaning and aiding the pups in learning the basics of bite inhibition.
First Teeth (3 to 6 weeks of age)
The first teeth to appear are the incisors teeth: six on the top and six on the bottom of the mouth. Following them, puppies will have the canines, four in total, two on the top and two on the bottom. Subsequently between 3 to 6 weeks of age, the puppy will get premolars that appear behind the canines. Puppies should have three on the top and three on the bottom of each side.
Adult teeth (8 to 16 weeks of age, finishing 8 months)
At approximately 8 weeks, the puppy’s teeth start falling out as the adult teeth push the milk ones out of the way.
The sequence of the teeth’s fall is: first are the incisors around 12 to 16 weeks of the puppy’s age; then the canine teeth will fall out around 16 weeks and lastly, the premolars around 24 weeks…to continue reading this article from Purina, click here.
