Speaking of teeth. What do you think a judge should do with a dog which has an overshot or undershot bite?

Undershot, overshot, or misaligned teeth are serious faults. The judge has to then decide.Each judge is different, that is why there is judges education through the clubs to assist in these types of questions.Judges education from breeders are then going to tell the judges how to judge this.
Is that the best speciman of the breed in the ring at that time?Is there another dog that has less faults. The teeth are important to hold a bird, can an over shot, or undershot hold a bird correctly.

Sorry, I guess I didn't word my question well. I was wondering how people felt. Should these bites be dealt with in the same way as missing teeth? Is it worse to have over/undershot bite or missing teeth?

OK... I'll venture out on this one. Every standard used around the world for Labradors calls for a scissors bite. Only some of the standards call for full dentition or specify missing teeth as a fault. Applying logic to your question, I would have to say that overshot, undershot or awry is a MORE serious fault than missing teeth. Since scissors is specified in all the standards (with level permissible, but not preferred in a few), a dog without a scissors bite has an "incorrect" bite. Judges will penalize it differently based on their own evaluations, but it should ALWAYS be penalized in every country, by every judge based on all of the standards.

Define what you mean by "serious."

To me serious means that a characteristic has a genetic component and is likely to be transmitted to offspring.

To me, serious means something that interferes with the ability of the dog to do the job for which it was intended. With that in mind, a problem with the bite is probably worse than missing teeth, although it would depend I would imagine on just how bad the bite is and just how many teeth are missing (e.g would a very slight overbite interfere more with carrying a bird than 6 missing teeth? I don't know).

How transmissable the fault is should be taken into account of course, especially while making breeding decisions, but let's not forget why the standard was written - to describe the ideal Labrador RETRIEVER.

Missing premolars is OK to some extent because it doesn't affect the dogs bite. Some seasoned breeders think that a dog with missing premolars are better retrievers because it causes less damage on the bird. Under or over bites are a serious fault and it looks awful.

I have seen a veterinarian take hold of a dog's tongue. I have NEVER seen a judge take hold of a dog's tongue.

Not entirely true in my experience. Dogs with missing teeth seldom have an incorrect front bite. However, over the years I have had two stud dogs with missing premolars that both produced a disproportionate number of undershot mouths in their pups with full dentition. They both produced genetically as if they were undershot. So, I came to think that these two dogs (of different breeds, by the way) might not have had such a pretty scissors bite if they had all their teeth. The missing teeth affected the bite to the extent that it allowed room for the bite to be scissors when it probably was not genetically.

The breed standard states the following:-

'Undershot, overshot, or misaligned teeth are serious faults. Full dentition is preferred. Missing molars or pre-molars are serious faults.'

The wording states that all these problems are serious faults. Judges are there to evaluate the whole dog in terms of the breed standard. Missing 1 or 2 molars or premolars in no more or no less serious than a slightly overshot or undershot bite. More missing teeth is more serious as is a larger gap in the over/undershot mouth.

One would hope that the breeders/exhibitors would have enough sense to evaluate their dog honestly in terms of the whole standard before entering a dog show and asking the judge to do just that. As a judge, I would place an otherwise superb dog higher than a mediocre dog with a raft of other faults. Maybe I would excuse the whole class for lack of merit if forced into that situation bearing in mind that I may find myself then forced to consider this dog for winners .

This all relates to judging to the American standard. Breeder666 is correct when stating that in some standards no mention is made of missing teeth, but a scissor bite is a requirement.

Per the LRC standard for a Labrador: The teeth should be strong and regular with a scissors bite; the lower teeth just behind, but touching the inner side of the upper incisors. A level bite is acceptable, but not desirable. Undershot, overshot, or misaligned teeth are serious faults. Full dentition is preferred. Missing molars or pre-molars are serious faults.

All faults are relative as to what else you are in the ring with...there is no perfect dog.