However, today is about today, and not a flashback.
Last week, it was already dark, she grabbed something off the street and started chewing, happily. A dog grabbing "stuff" to eat off the street is not good news, and we tried to take her prize off off her.
What? Two pebbles? Why is she chewing on pebbles?
(We do feed her!)
Our previous dog did this once, too, on the beach, and managed to chew a flint off off a molar. Just a flint. The vet was worried and said: it must be taken out! We were not overly worried, and he was 11 at the time, so we bode his time. He managed to become 14, and kept on chewing sticks as happily as before, but we kept an eye on stones, and his tooth, ever since.
So, better check this one for damage then, she's only two.
No new damage. But, there was old damage. A big molar lacked it's big pointy thing completely, and was discoloured, and had a dark spot in the middle (1). Eew, yes.
The vet noted she had a lot of "scale" on her tooth (Zoomba), and tried scraping some off, not to much avail.
What to do about it? You (the vet) can quite easily extract a dog's tooth, but I was worried that when a tooth is extracted other molars will start to move around, and the perfect fit of her teeth is destroyed. She (the vet) didn't know that for sure. Or if dog teeth can be filled? It depends on the state of the tooth, and on the dog. Police dogs get crowns and metal replacement teeth fitted. Well, this is no police dog.. So, off to the specialist with the x-ray camera for dogs.
The result is above. And a little surprise there is, too: she had another tooth missing! The tooth we are worried about is the left one, with the dark spot in the middle (1). On the right of that one are two little stumps: the roots of a molar long gone, and now beneath her gums (2). They needed to go, else they will cause trouble later.
The damaged tooth must hurt her, the doctor said. Especially when under pressure of a ball, or food. (I did notice she carries a ball on the left side, probably to spare her right side bad tooth.)
He was tempted to do a root canal, "I love doing those", he noted, but maybe it is better to just remove it. Especially since the other roots must be removed.
After 45 minutes we had a groggy little doggy in our arms, who must eat boiled chicken and pasta for a week, and peed on the way home while sitting on a lap.
We better not think what would have happend, had she stayed in Spain with her broken teeth.
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