What kind of dog is this?
Where are the teeth missing?
A yorkshire terrier.
The teeth are on both sides of his mouth...on the upper sides.
Toy breed dogs often have missing teeth as a hereditary defect.
They usually are completely missing - ie nothing in the gums to become impacted or erupt later. They just are genetically missing.
I'd skip the x-rays or at least wait until a time the dog is having a dental cleaning.
Hope this helps you!
So, if I wait until he might need a cleaning and something would develop before then,
is it something that I would detect and be able to have him treated for then?
If a tooth erupted where there was no space for it he might show pain or difficulty in chewing or an excessive tartar build up needing cleaning.
If you know his breeder you can ask them if his parents had any missing teeth or if they see any problems with teeth that didn't erupt as the dogs age.
I'd only be concerned myself if there was something wrong with the dog's mouth or if I wanted to breed the dog as its preferred to use dogs with full complement of teeth for breeding as it is a hereditary problem.
Ok - to the first part of your answer - in the area where the teeth are missing - there's
lots of space, because there are several teeth missing there....would I know or be able
to tell if a cyst was developing? That seems to be the big concern.
I asked the breeder - she's never heard of anything like this before.....and we won't
be breeding him. He was neutered and at that time, the first vet we had, removed two
"deciduous" teeth.
The loss of the deciduous teeth the other vet pulled may mean he won't have any teeth there at all.
I've known of vets pulling what they thought were puppy teeth only to remove the only teeth the dog had there.Usually when puppy teeth are removed they are almost out because adult teeth are pushing them.
If there is plenty of room for a tooth to erupt it should come through.
If you brush your dog's teeth or check his mouth regularly I'd expect you to see any growths in the area.
I'm not surprised the breeder didn't know teeth could be missing - many don't check for that sort of thing. Breeding for those darling little faces sometimes results in accidentally breeding for missing teeth.
Dog Expert:Rescue, Train,Breed,Care
30+ yrs dog home vet care & nursing, rescue, behavior&training, responsible show breeding, genetics