Has anyone seen a pup who was fine up until 3 months of age suddenly get an underbite and then change to half under, half normal (literally the right side is under and the left normal now) at 4 months?

Any chance it will correct?

Is this normal growing?

Does it happen often????

Yes, it's called a "wry" mouth. I had a puppy that I placed in a pet home with a normal bite at 8 weeks and when I saw her at about 6 months, her bite was wry and never corrected.

Dianne

Thanks Dianne, but looking it up I don't think it's a wry mouth. Looks more like the anterior cross bite photos I have found.

The thing is, it is changing. The first change was it went from a perfect scissor to a full underbite at 3 months. Now only one side is under and the other is scissor again. If it were wry, the bottom and top on both sides wouldn't be touching, but they meet up fine. Just half is under and half is scissor.

Geez I hope I am explaining this right!! It's hard to put in words

I am just praying the other half goes back to scissor and I guess I'm just asking if anyone has seen it happen?

That's what we call a wry mouth as well.

Don't give up hope just yet. I have had this same problem happen twice and in both cases it corrected itself before 6 months of age. Puppies mouths can move around a lot and sometimes it pays not to look too often! Good luck with your little one.

We had a show prospect whose bite went wry (in the same manner you described) at around 4-5 months of age. We kept the puppy until 12 months old, just in case it corrected! Our Vet had told us that it will not correct and unfortunately she was right.... it never corrected.

Dana

I try not to look in their mouths when they are losing their baby teeth and the adult teeth are coming in. It can be very scary. You don't know for sure what the bite will look like until the adult teeth are all in.

I try not to look also in those first few months when they have just lost the baby teeth. The lower jaw is the last to form and can move for months. At least, that is what someone told me. Looking everyday can drive you crazy.

Wry mouth, at least in cattle and horses, is a distinct underbite (bottom jaw and lower teeth protruding). I believe cross bite is a more correct description of the condition.

Not what I wanted to hear....

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Replying to:

We had a show prospect whose bite went wry (in the same manner you described) at around 4-5 months of age. We kept the puppy until 12 months old, just in case it corrected! Our Vet had told us that it will not correct and unfortunately she was right.... it never corrected.

Dana

Wry mouth and prognathism (underbites) are two different malocclusions and, as far as I know, are not linked.

A wry mouth is usually caused by one side of the mandible (lower jaw) growing faster or longer than the other. This causes misalignment of the upper and lower jaws and the mouth appears twisted. In some rare cases, especially if slight and linked to the RATE of growth, it can correct itself. The canine mandible does not have lateral movement like humans.

With cross bites - more specifically anterior cross bites - the occlusion usually remains correct from the canines back to the molars. It is only one or two lower incisors that find their way in front of their upper counterparts. I guess it could be called partial prognathism...?

I don't look at mouths unless I'm filling out entry forms!

They go through some horrible stages if you look at their teeth every day--even worse if you look at them several times a day!

From what the original poster has described it sounds like an anterior crossbite. This is what two of my pups have had . The bite did correct itself in both cases (fortunately) but sometimes it doesn't. My vet advised me to gently press back the teeth that are protruding too far and to do this a few times a day if the puppy will tolerate that. He said it is amazing how soft and easily manipulated the bite is at that age but you have to be persistent and do it every day. It worked for my puppies is all I can say so please have some faith.

Wow, so I have a dog with an anterior crossbite...he has one tooth out of place. I didn't know there was a name for it!!
I know that it occurred because he developed an underbite for a few weeks while he was growing and that one tooth got trapped.
I never thought it would be a big problem as he has been doing OK in specialties and only the one judge mentioned it (she did penalize him). Geez, I hope it doesn't hold him back, especially as I know it isn't genetic.

I also have one that up until 12 weeks she had a perfect bite. Then she had a bad under bite now at 5 months only 2 lower front teeth on the bottom come in front of the top teeth, all other teeth are perfect.

I will try pushing back on those 2 teeth to see if it will fix it.

I will also say that she just went through another growth spurt. She is all legs and her head looks too little for her body now. I just try not look at her conformation wise and remember what beautiful 8 week old puppy she was.