Hiya
I've had a call from a friend of mine, most upset as her 8 month old std poodle pup (home bred) has brown and black marks all over her teeth that will not come off. I've had a bit of a google on the subject and the only thing I can find, which sounds spot on is Enamel Hypoplasia, a condition in which the enamel does not form properly or is damaged during its development. It turns out all 8 puppies in the litter have been affected (hers being the worst). She is upset for a number of reasons 1) she was hoping to show and eventually have a litter from her bitch 2) she could have had angry calls from her puppy buyers if they'd wanted to show (thankfully none of them do). I cannot find anything that says there is a hereditary link, but feel there must be as all pups in the litter were affected. The dam was extremely well bred from an excellent breeder and had no problems with her teeth, and the sire was an imported Am Champion. She is convinced the problem couldn't have come from him, or he wouldn't have done as well as he had in the show ring etc, my concern is, from what I've read the teeth affected can be 'restored' therefore no-one would be any the wiser if he did have it. Or it could have come from further back in the line. She will be speaking to the dams breeder later today.
I did read one article that said their was a link between this and canine distemper, carefully hinting at a link to vaccinations??
Has anyone on the board ever heard of this condition? Or whether it is indeed hereditary? Or any information would be helpful!

Thanks guys :) 

xxxx

I saw a TV programme about this a few years ago and the programme was highlighting this problem in humans (no mention of dogs) and in humans it is said to be caused by exposure/injestion of too much flouride (proven). Some individuals appear to be very sensitive to flouride and over exposure as a child triggered the blackening of teath.  (Hence the warning on toothbast for kids to use VERY small amounts.  Now this probelm has increased in recent years following the compuslory addition of flouride to our water supply. 
Now it is possible that the line your friend has is just sensitive to flouride and if they had been given bottled water instead of tap water they may not have been affected by this.
Just a suggestion, which might be worth investigating..?

Was the litter given antibiotics at an early age?    Exposure to penicillin (I think) was the cause of a lot of rotting/discolouration of infant teeth in the 1960s - there might be a link!  Adult teeth were unaffected

Margot

Tetracycline was the antibiotic, along with others, but not penicillin! Also the hyper Flouride in the water.

I had this in a spaniel, and the vet told me it was because he had met with a viral infection when small. He was six months and neglected when I got him, so to have been afected by a virus and nobody know would not have been surprising. Have you asked your vet for an opinion? I am sure we would all be interested to know what your vet thinks the cause may have been.

As others have said, certain antibiotics can cause this (I have often had my vet avoid certain types of antibiotics -but can't remember what!- in pregnant cats of mine for this reason.) Also having had distemper can have the same effect.

Did the pups have antibiotics.  One of the antibiotics can damage developing tooth enamel.  My Friends son has lines on his teeth due to this.

I know antibiotics taken during pregnancy can have this affect on a baby's teeth - could this have happened when the bitch was having the litter?

A basic grounding in genetics would suggest that, if all the puppies in the litter were affected, it was either a recessive gene carried by both parents (or statistically only 50% would be affected) or something happened during pregnancy to cause the problem.

My daughter has marks on her teeth (not too bad thankfully) and I was told this could have been caused by antibiotics.  She did have antibiotics as a baby so I accept that it was probably that.  My mother tells me that I had no baby molars because they had broken down in the gums.  The doctor told her that this was due to me having had measles as a baby. So, perhaps the bitch had picked up an undetected virus, it happens in humans so why not in dogs?

Hi guys

Thanks for all your replies. I have just been to see my friends bitch and her pup. Mums teeth - perfect. Pups? Every single tooth in her mouth has these brown marks all over them. The teeth are smooth to the touch (not ridged or pitted at all) - they almost look marbled... The marks are pretty bad, very dark in colour. She or her littermates haven't had any antibiotics at all and nor did the dam when pregnant. Sooo its a total mystery! Maybe the bitch did indeed have an undetected virus at some point??? Although my friend did say she's been in perfect health all the way through so My friend is going to contact the studs owner and breeder of the dam to see anyone can shed any light.
It seems such a shame to see an otherwise beautiful 8 month old pup with a mouthful of brown teeth!! :(
Thankyou for your replies and if anyone thinks of anything else my friend and I would love to hear!

xxxxx