Depending on where it is broken is pretty much how you deal with it.

In Sch, if your dog is needing a canine to hold on to the sleeve, then his grip is pretty worthless. LOL

On a more serious note, sorry this happened. Wait till you get the rediculous bill to fix it. These people stick it right up your ass.

 

I dont remember if it was $1500 or $3000 per tooth. As Jeff said it depends where the break was, but most cases I've seen resulted in titanium (I think?) crowns. For bitework it MUST be a metal cap, porcelain will crack again eventually. It looks pretty cool, I have seen dogs with 4 silver canine's.

Find a specialist canine dentist that has a reputation for repairing teeth for working dogs. The vet I took my boy to when his tooth turned purple was in Tampa FL, and he has done many law enforcement and schutzhund teeth.

 

Repeating Mike's advice to find a specialist canine dentist! Most regular vets only know how to pull teeth and some of them aren't very good at that either.

 

We had a dog at club that had a metal replacement. He did fine afterwards.
Note of caution. If one of the upper canines are broken off at the gumline, it needs to be repaired or removed. An infection here can create serious sinus problems.

 

I've had two dogs break a canine. The first one my vet looked at and said "let's just keep an eye on it for infection, but leave it alone otherwise" It never was a problem for her. The second dog, the break was very similar to the first, but I took him to a specialist and they said we needed to do a root canal. Told me they couldn't cap the broken tooth but wanted to cap his other canine so that one didn't break since it was going to be under more stress with one already broken. Since then I have had multiple people, some vets, tell me the would have capped the broken one also, no problems. Not real happy with the specialist I used. Anyway, final total to do a root canal on the one tooth and cap the other one (basically I fixed one tooth, just broke the "fix" in half and did half of it to each tooth) was $3000 But it varies a LOT depending on where you are, one of the people who looked at Mac's teeth said they would have done the entire thing for 1000.00 at her office. And another person in FR who I talked to, who had all 4 of his dogs teeth done, paid 1500 for all 4.

 

If only half of it broke off, you have more options.
Gator broke a top canine and it was shattered up into (and including some of)the bone. I found a great dentist and discussed several options with him.
I steered away from a titanium implant (quoted $3,500) because I've been told that some hard hitting dogs (like he is) occasionally broke portions of their jaws when they repeated the same action that caused the intital injury, only the titanium tooth did not give and so their jaw did.
For that reason and because he bites full (he doesnt rely on his canines to get or keep a grip) and I'm not particularly concerned with having a perfect schutzhund grip anyway, we had the tooth completely extracted. The recovery time sucked...keeping Gator from biting, holding or carrying anything was torture to he and I.
I have seen little impact in his bitework however and I think it was the right choice. The dentist did an awesome job with the tricky extraction (tooth shoved into the sinus cavity, broken bone surrounding shattered tooth, yeesh), packed the gap, grafted bone, etc. and the final bill was under $600.

 

Fortunately this dog does not need canines for grip. The sleeve always looks like it is being partially digested ;-) I have a call in to my board certified doggie dentist to see what can be done and if they can get me in soon. The break is angular with about a little less than 1/2 inch of tooth remaining below the gum on one side and broken off above the gum on the front side with the pulp exposed. Doesn't seem to bother the dog but makes me want to puke and I'm a bit worried about infection setting in.

 

I have had one dog break his upper canine off at the gum line. Had it removed and he never had problems gripping a sleeve or suit.

 

Thanks for the input. We have an appointment next week for a root canal and will go from there. The vet feels that we can probably fill the tooth after the root canal, smooth the sharp edge and apply composite to stabilize it and make it more symmetrical. Good thing we had a dental notation done and recorded

Terry

 

rootcanal cost about 125 euro (about 150 $) at my vet´s. Depends on the place of where it broke off if they´re bothered by it. If you want a cap, go to a specialist.

 

Wish I could get it done that inexpensive here. Going to be very expensive but I have had very good experiences with this veterinarian and his staff. He is one of two board certified specialists in So California that came highly recommended. From my previous experience he is worth every penny. I'll post some before and after pics next week.

Terry

 

Which dog broke a tooth Terry?

 

Canine dentistry is a rather up and coming specialty, so there will be a wide range of experience out there. The average vet is going to just kind of pull and scrap for an extraction type of surgery (it made me cringe to watch one on a Chihuahua), so ask around. It also wouldn't hurt to consult with a human dentist or even an oral/maxillary surgeon if it is severe enough.
​

 

You could probably fly to europe and get it done for the price they charge here.

 

I am noticing that my vet bills in Belgium are very very low. Office visits are frequently free if you buy meds, meds are cheap too, and when you do pay its about $50 for the office visit. Lyka had a bloat scare and the whole thing with midnight office visit and surgery in the morning (it wasn't bloat but they were concerned about possible obstruction), x-rays, removal of stitches, meds, the whole deal was less than $550 or so. I paid more than that for an x-ray to be taken at 10pm in Orlando when Lyka broke her leg.

The emergency clinic in Orlando charges $100 to have the vet walk into the room to answer 1 question. My regular vet is minimum $80 + they charge for every little thing they do.

 

Mike, in defense of the vets, you also have to realize how much money it costs to run a vet clinic. Even in rural Missouri, it cost something like $150 an hour to run a one doctor clinic with 3 vet techs, 2 receptionists, and 2 kennel workers. Heck yes, I plan on charging for every little thing (I'll be about 70-80K in debt by the time I'm done, thanks!), but I would also ask first too if at all possible. I was kind of irritated when I brought my ferret in to remove a tumor on the tip of his tail and they charged me to trim his nails while he was unconscious without asking. His nails were pretty short beforehand and he's my easiest animal to trim. Ah well...

 

hell braxton has broken three k9s off(he was a fence chewer) he now only has one. the vet said to just watch it for infection but other that that he has no issues. you couldnt tell he was missing them

 

This dog is a fence chewer too and has literally pulled the chain link apart on one panel, can't keep a water bucket upright and forget putting a dog house in the kennel.

After closer inspection I found a fracture in the other upper canine and enamel wear on a lower one. I'm not sure I'll go through the expense to save one, only to have one or more go too.

Terry

 

Maren, is there regulation about minimum staffing requirements at a vet clinic?

The vets here are pretty small time, they work out of their homes (downstairs is a waiting room and a room where the vet works out of), upstairs is the living area, they are open only a few hours on certain days, but available at a moments notice with a phone call (at least mine is, even at midnight when we thought Lyka bloated).

Then the place she was operated at and the x-rays done was a bigger dedicated building (non-residence) with more staff, 3 xrays, ultrasound and the operation with overnight boarding was still very cheap.

What surprises me is that Europe is overall pretty expensive, rent and property costs are far higher than "rural US". Yet, vet care can still be very cheap.

Ofcourse, bloodwork and stuff like that is sent out to a lab, which is stuff I believe is done in-house at my vet in Orlando, probably cutting costs alot there, but even so, I paid about $65 for a complete rundown of Lyka.

It just amazes me at how cheap vet care is in a continent where everything else is ridiculously expensive. Generally most things here (without tax) are the same amount in Euros as they are in the US in Dollars (also without tax). Then there's 21% sales tax included in everything (other countries might have less tax), so with the current Euro plus tax, everything is about 50% more expensive than what I'm used to, and that doesn't even go into property costs. I was expecting vet care to be 50% more expensive too, but the only thing 50% more expensive is the price of kibble because it's imported from Canada :lol: (Orijen, at $88 per bag). "DUCK" is cheaper (a belgian brand of pre-made frozen raw food that doesn't contain duck), but they screwed up, the thing SMELLS more like grains than it does meat and feels to the touch more like grains than it does meat :roll:

 

It just amazes me at how cheap vet care is in a continent where everything else is ridiculously expensive. Generally most things here (without tax) are the same amount in Euros as they are in the US in Dollars (also without tax). Then there's 21% sales tax included in everything (other countries might have less tax), so with the current Euro plus tax, everything is about 50% more expensive than what I'm used to, and that doesn't even go into property costs. I was expecting vet care to be 50% more expensive too, but the only thing 50% more expensive is the price of kibble because it's imported from Canada :lol: (Orijen, at $88 per bag). "DUCK" is cheaper (a belgian brand of pre-made frozen raw food that doesn't contain duck), but they screwed up, the thing SMELLS more like grains than it does meat and feels to the touch more like grains than it does meat :roll:

dutch tax rate is 19%.

Try carnibest or KIVO (both produced in holland, kivo in noord brabant), Carnibest (what i feed) has no grain at all, kivo less as duck.

 

I was a vet practice manager for a 24 hour AAHA practice with 33 employees and 7 veterinarians for 10 years. It's not cheap to keep the doors open when you have to consider the cost of everything involved. Utilities, veterinary and computer equipment, rent or mortgage, license (location and staff), taxes (local and payroll), insurance (local, employment and malpractice), continuing education, office supplies, veterinary supplies, etc. Consider that a digital x-ray machine can cost well over $50,000 alone. All of this has to be figured into the cost of the services. Of course for specialty services and state of the art practices you can expect to pay premium fees.

Terry

 

I 100% agree, Terry. I'd really like to see the salary for vets go up (and not just because I'm going to be one in a few years) for how much education and debt we end up with (i.e.-fairly similar to a doctor, but half the pay, grumble grumble). For a first year in state vet student, it costs 18K. It costs 24K for a first year in state med student. For the quality of care you're usually going to see, the prices in the United States are very reasonable in most areas, though for the record, I dislike hearing about vets that charge $400 for a neuter and stuff like that. So I don't think it's so much that the US is so expensive, it's that Europe is so cheap for whatever reason. The vet schools in the States are just all very good too. There is only 28 vet schools in the US, if I recall, and like 125 medical schools. Don't know about the ones over in Europe as vet medicine is finally catching up to human medicine (which is about time too, since most techniques and treatments for humans were designed on animals first!).

 

@ Mike, every price is incl. tax on the price tags...and not much tipping ´cause it is incl. in the price. Here, we usually only tip in restaurants after dinner or in a bar if the service was good (usually really bad, but we tip any way: a few euros).

From the taxes a big part of the social security system is paid

Hey why do you think we want our dogs cheap with all those prices....I guess gasoline is about triple or four times (if not even more) the american price...don´t forget the tax you have to pay when you only own a car....
its per weight, thats why there a lot of little cars overhere..

 

Ah, I think Belgium taxes cars on engine size and horsepower, nobody said anything about weight, but that explains why theres such a noticable difference in cars people drive when you cross the border to Holland.

I know tax is included in the price tag And I don't use the social security system here, does that mean I dont have to pay tax?? Hell, I don't even use the trash collection system here, I pay for private collection because the gemeente won't take my trash unless I put it in special bags with expensive stickers all seperated for recycling :lol: I am not from California, I don't know about this environmental recycling stuff that Europe seem so concerned about I recycle Florida style... "when I remember, I put aluminum cans and plastic bottles into the green container, and newspapers into the orange container, and everything else including the cans and the papers I forgot about in the black trash bag, then have it collected 3 times a week". Dog poop really starts to stink sitting out there for 2 weeks waiting for trash collection :roll:

I am spending less on gas here than I was in Florida though. I can drive endlessly on diesel and never have to fill up. Driving distances are way shorter too, so I can go weeks on a tank of gas, rather than several tanks of gas a week

Cost aside.... someone needs to change the damn beaurocracy crap they have going on here. It took me a month to finally get my Belgian drivers license today, it took me 2 weeks to lease a car, and I get really tired of writing "gelezen en goedgekeurt" 64 times whenever I sign something :lol: I hear they got their beaurocracy and contract law from the French.

I do like it though, all the quirks don't really bother me, its just very different to what I'm used to. Everyone's friendly and I really like being in the country, but only 20 minutes from 2 big cities with 20 small towns around me with everything I ever need. I only go to Brussels for the mussels

 

a lot of rules comes from the European Commision, who seats in Brussel. I think in about 10-15 years Europe has a "general administration" in Brussel and every country her own rules, kinda like the different states in the US.

Hey you live in Belgium so you´ve to pay the taxes.... even if you won´t enjoy the social security, at least that how the dutch will think.

In Germany the gasoline is including wegenbelasting and cheaper than in Holland... almost 70% of the price is tax I believe :roll:

Only about 2 hr drive to us;-)

 

i have 2 sisters that are human docs (do NOT ask what happened to me--chemistry), and the consensus seems to be that it's easier to get into med school than vet school....my daughter's still *conflicted* between the 2, but she's only 15 yrs old.

 

Some friends of mine from grad school are interested in going to med school when they get done with their PhDs and they insist that vet school is not harder than med school. Yeah right! I am already seeing how much harder it is just in anatomy class alone! Learning just the dog is hard enough, but we have to do the cat and the rat this semester and next semester is the cow and horse. Ugh. Anatomy sucks.

 

Quote: (i.e.-fairly similar to a doctor, but half the pay, grumble grumble).

Some of the dumbest people I know are vets. Seriously, go to Med school and then go to vet school and you will see what a joke vet school is.

C'mon, they are all over-rated as evidenced by just about everyone on the planet has a "guess what my dumb ass vet did" story.

Last thing I want to hear about is vets comparing their goofy shit to Med school. You kill off a dog on accident, OOOOOOPS, sorry dude. Doctors kill off a patient on accident, and the world stops spinning.

Try Med school. The reason people want to be a vet is the complete lack of accountability.

Overpriced to dumb to be a real doctor fakey mother****ers.

Now ask me what I really feel about "vets".

 

*long sigh*

:roll::roll::roll:

Jeff, I'm in no mood to even begin to respond. You have a decent idea or two about dog training every once in a very great while, but you have no clue about what it takes to be a vet or what vet school is like. We learn the same damn things as the med students do (biochemistry, histology, anatomy, cell biology, and physiology in the first semester alone) but in different species. An oncologist's mistake lead to my grandmother dying. Yeah. They never make mistakes either. But oh man, you caught me! The only reason I want to be a vet is because lack of accountability. Keep on bar tending, my friend. [-X

 

I usually don't have to wait 2 hours past my appointment time and my vet also has a better beside manner than my physician ;-)

Yeah wtf is that about anyway.

I cant get any doctors in Orlando to do house calls either and an office visit is minimum $150 at most places, you can find docs that will do it for $100. Walk in clinics are $100 too. Here I can get a house call for $40 and that was the first time I've seen a doctor in 9 years other than once or twice for stitches. I know doctors who have told me about all the goodies they get for pushing pills, vacations, gifts, bonuses.... I'm told anti depressants are a biggie in the UK right now, everyone seems to be on them. Maybe its the weather?? :lol: :lol:

I never understood the unquestionable godly status that many people give doctors. Maybe it used to be something special, but have you seen how many frikkin doctors there are these days? Its like anyone can go thru med school as long as you can afford the tuition. Just like attorneys, they're all over the place and they don't have to be that good to ask for alot of money. Sure I appreciate the work of a good doctor (or attorney), but they're just people.

 

BTW the tooth was extracted today due to the extent of the damage to the remaining canines and existing tooth.

Terry

 

I'm glad you caught it, Terry.