There are multitudes of dogs missing teeth, and they are not rotting away from cancers. This was likely an unfortunate coincidence, and not a cause and effect.
Missing teeth and retained teeth which have not erupted are two completely different things with MUCH different sequelae.
To the OP, obviously you can't tell at this age whether or not the puppy will have missing premolars in its adult dentition. It sounds like a watch, wait-and-see approach is best.
Do not jump through hoops on this one, just respond by saying that missing teeth especially premolars is not terribly unusual in the Labrador Retriever breed but if you are concerned we would prefer you bring our baby back for a refund.
The only issue I could see with the vet mentioning about "if the puppy is missing molars also" is the difficulty it could have with eating kibble food due to the lack of teeth. How old is the puppy? The puppy should have all of his teeth by 7 months old. If the puppy is 7 months or older then whatever teeth he/she has are already in and there would not be any question or anymore missing.
Yes, pet people are over the top with the smallest of issues. The vets make things worse mostly because they are not dealing with just one breed and have multiple clients and the issues have become all general. If it becomes an issue with these owners, tell them you want a second opinion and they need to take the puppy to your vet to confirm or not any issues with missing teeth.
What? 8 1/2 weeks? Puppies do not have the same amount of pre molars as an adult dog with full dentition. Seriously tell those people to get a new vet. The puppy most likely has all the teeth he should have at 8 weeks. I would tell them to wait until the puppy gets all of their adult teeth and then have him re checked.
i guess that i don't understand why this is so offensive to you. my golden puppy is missing a premolar and my breeder is the one who called me to check it out and asked if my puppy was missing teeth. she wanted to take inventory as she kept 2 litter mates for show that were missing teeth. I guess that is the difference between breeders who really care about the puppies they are breeding - all of the pupples- show and pet. not sure why this has made you so angry- the owner was just asking a question.....geez
