I love boxer dogs!

I really love boxers. I seem to see a lot of them in my practice.  It may be because one of my clients travels the Carolinas rescuing boxers that find their way into shelters.  He takes them home and works with a great organization, Carolina Boxer Rescue, to help find them good homes. One of their boxers even ended up at my house to live out her last years.  Her name was Brandy and she was one of the sweetest dogs I have ever met.  But I digress!  I may also see a lot of boxers becuase they have a bunch of interesting dental problems not limited to: traumatic occlusions, gingival hyperplasia, missing adult teeth, extra adult teeth, and impacted adult teeth.  Last week we treated Alex III (from a long line of great boxer dogs).

Alex III had several of the common boxer dental problems. This included impacted teeth, as seen on the dental radiograph below.

There was also an extra premolar and all the premolars visible had significant tooth root resorption.  Alex III also had an extra maxillary first premolar as seen on this dental radiograph below.

Alex III did not need the extra teeth, and the impacted teeth can result in cyst formation so we removed them. He did great and served as a reminder that all boxers need dental radiographs!

Visit westsideanimal.com to learn more about veterinary dentistry.