Your Dog Can Receive Braces, Too!

It may come as a humorous surprise to many, but there is such a thing as veterinary orthodontic services – or braces for your dog! It’s not a very common treatment, but it turns out that improperly aligned teeth actually are a common problem for many dogs. You may be wearing braces for cosmetic reasons, but that’s not why your pet would receive them. Instead, the main goal of dog braces is to help fix the bite of animals with improperly aligned teeth.

Why Would My Dog Need Braces?

There are lots of reasons why your pet may have misaligned teeth. Some of the more common reasons include:

• Tug of war injuries
• Genetic predisposition
• Retained primary teeth
• Poor or inadequate nutrition
• Tooth trauma

In more severe cases, a dog’s tooth can even grow out of place enough that it will cut into the dog’s mouth or cheek tissue. This will obviously be very painful and distressing to your pet, causing them to stop eating or even causing an infection. This is the point when it would be necessary to take action to fix the tooth!

How Do Dog Braces Work?

Dogs don’t receive full sets of braces (brackets, wires, and all) like people do. Typically, a dog will have a type of bridge placed in their mouth that crosses over one or two teeth, depending on the misalignment. There are also invisible braces available (much like Invisalign), or orthopedic buttons that hold elastics in place.

Once placed, your dog’s braces would work the same way yours do. By gradually moving the teeth into proper alignment, the braces will eventually be removed, although your dog won’t have to follow up with a retainer!

Unfortunately, here at Firestone Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, we only treat human patients! Please contact our Firestone, CO dental office to make an appointment.