My 2yr old BC has worn down his canines, both sets, but more so on the bottom set. He's not a chewer so we don't understand where it has come from. He is eating normally, but he srtuggles to pick up his football now and has resorted to picking it up my a thread rather than grabbing the whole ball.
We can now see a ring on the top of the tooth which we assume is pulp or dentine. He is booked in at the vets this evening. Just wondering if anyone else has experience of this? What was the outcome? Is it strange that it is happening whilst he is still so young? He doesn't turn 3 til October.

My 8 yr old collie is the same as has had very little bottom teeth at all now. She has never chewed but has always carried around tennis balls which are very abrasive and has worn down her teeth considerably. There is nothing that can be done as far as i know, it doesn't really affect her apart from she finds it harder to catch a ball these days, it tends to flick back at me! There is another collie at flyball that is 4 and is the same.

Yeah, we've been to the vet, this is what he says, so no more balls for him now. He's sulking about it, but his teeth are more precious than footballs. Just have to find a better way for him to burn his energy, without wrecking his teeth at such a young age.

The same happened to my dog at that age (he's 7 now). His bottom canines are very flat and I worried to start with but the vet set my mind at ease. He's always carrying a toy around, if somebody comes to the house he greets them with a toy and tennis balls are his major love. We haven't stopped him playing with them at all, it's who he is and where he gets his greatest pleasure. He can still gnaw his way through a large bone in no time at all !.

mine too!I blamed her carrying sticks,tin cans,plastic bottles,all of which she d carry if no ball was in evidence.Ive not stopped her doing it,and shes 14 now,and has been fine.Like you say,its who she is!Show me a collie,and il show you a dog with a ball in its mouth!Or a stick,or- - - - - - -!

Mine have all had lovely teeth until their deaths.  Our Elka's always drew comment from the Vet as to how white and nice they were, and her granddaughter now 12 is just the same.

Only in the last couple of years one lost a front tooth due to an epulis (gum boil), as when the growth was removed it was found to have split the tooth.

Her daughter had a tooth abscess, and had to have one of the large upper teeth out.  Mine all get raw recreational marrow bones and hooves to chew, and some teeth are a bit worn by late old age, but not to any great extent.

I do think tooth quality is inherited, diet in rearing and development, and though out life surely must play a part.

Maybe I have found the advantage of owning a breed that generally doesn't do retrieving (unless it's for themselves and edible), and certainly will not fetch a ball ;) .

We got our last dog when he was 4 years old (lab cross). His canines were all worn down flat (just a little longer than the teeth they sat next too).
We assumed he had ground them down with his worrying habbit of finding & chewing up stones/bricks. Hard to break that habbit, he would dig in the ground to look for stones/bricks etc. we ended up digging the top layer of our garden up to remove any we found. 
He lived another 10 & half years, so if he was 4yrs old on the day we got him, that would make him 14 & half. His stumpy teeth never bothered him atall :)

I got my 5.5 year old girl when she was 2 and her bottom canines already had the tips flattened off due to her tennis ball obsession. For her a life without tennis balls is a life not worth living so I do still let her fetch them but I don't let her carry them around too much or chew on them and her teeth haven't really got any worse in the 3.5 years I've had her, nor do they affect her ability to eat raw bones, chew marrowbones etc. Other than that wearing she does have great teeth though, the vet has commented on how clean and white they are.