Puppies may have persistence of deciduous teeth. Understand the cause of this and the reasons why you should seek help. The persistence of primary teeth is very common in small breeds or mini puppies. It is important to know the reason in order to decide the right time to extract the primary tooth. When not extracted, this persistence leads to other oral diseases.

The deciduous teeth are the first teeth formed in dogs and cats. Then the permanent teeth are formed, and below the primary. The development of permanent tooth leads to resorption of deciduous tooth root. When it loses its root, loses the support and exfoliates ('falls').

In small dogs, the buttons of the permanent teeth are slightly displaced from their ideal position. To be out of position, even with its development, the permanent tooth is not enough to induce lysis of the tooth root deciduous. As the dandelion milk keeps its root, it does not 'fall'.

There is a rule in dentistry (human and veterinary): "Two teeth cannot occupy the same space." This is because normal is the permanent tooth induces the loss of deciduous teeth. When is the persistence of the deciduous tooth, two teeth (permanent and deciduous) are crowded, favoring the accumulation of plaque, gingivitis and premature formation of tartar. In patients with persistent deciduous tooth for many years, eventually develop periodontal disease, wasting both teeth contamination of the bone support. Moreover, the presence of primary teeth also lead to the orthodontic problems, since permanent tooth does not "find" its proper place.

It is a myth to wait 9 to 10 months, because if there have been persistent primary tooth is because the permanent is displaced from its ideal position. Therefore, the chance of deciduous tooth 'falls' alone is minimal. When viewing the 'tip' (cusp) of the permanent tooth during its eruption, it is advised to remove the primary tooth.

The longer is the persistence, more compact is the bone around the teeth, making it difficult to extract the simple method (alveolar extraction). In patients over a year and a half, usually the extraction is performed by the complicated method (gingival flap and alveolectomia).