Causes of Teeth Chattering in Dogs: Hunter’s Teeth Chattering: What Caused It?

Hunter is a sweet, 8-year-old Golden Lab mix. He’s always been healthy and happy. Until something started bothering him a great deal.

Causes of Teeth Chattering in Dogs: Hunter's Teeth Chattering: What Caused It?

Out of the blue, one day Hunter started chattering his teeth, licking his lips, yawning and looking downright miserable. He held his head low, and the look in his eyes was saying, “help me.”

Apart from these episodes, Hunter was still eating, pooping, playing and barking as usual, or so it seemed.

What could be wrong with Hunter?

Could it be an upset GI tract? Seizure activity of some kind? Or a dental problem? If you read the article about teeth chattering in dogs, you might remember that the most common cause is oral pain.

Hunter’s mom took him to a veterinarian, but they couldn’t find anything wrong. Hunters teeth looked good, but his breath smelled bad. Blood work came back clean.

Suspecting that there could be an oral issue going on where it cannot be seen, the veterinarian scheduled Hunter for dental work. The big C was uttered as well.

Did Hunter need dental work?

Hunter’s mom was very concerned, particularly being told that there was the possibility of cancer. She decided to get a second opinion.

The new vet checked Hunter’s mouth and found the problem immediately.

Hunter had a stick stuck between his upper teeth, lodged in there all the way across the bridge of his mouth.

The vet was able to get it out right there on the spot. Fortunately, no tissue was seriously damaged. Hunted walked out of there his normal happy self.

Sticks and foreign objects can be troublemakers

Stick injuries in dogs are, unfortunately, quite common. Splinters can embed in the tongue, gumline, and other tissues. Large fragments can lodge between the upper teeth like happened to Hunter, or even in the hard palate. This can cause severe damage and require surgery. Hunter was lucky. Large swallowed fragments can damage or obstruct the digestive tract. Small or even larger pieces can even be inhaled.

Read Dr. Jason Nicholas’ article to learn how much trouble playing and chewing on sticks can cause.

Dogs will be dogs

Depending on your dog and their lifestyle, it may not be possible to divorce your dog from sticks. It is a good idea to give it a fair try, though, and try and replace sticks with safer alternatives. If your dog does have an obsession with sticks, be aware of the potential problems it can cause so you can act fast.

Our male dogs ate their share of sticks, particularly when out on the horse farm when one couldn’t watch them the whole time. Other than throwing them up the next morning, nothing worse ever came from it–but it could have. This was the main reason I got health insurance for JD.

JD once almost impaled himself on a stick which landed funny and I stopped using sticks to play fetch right then and there.

It is quite possible that a splinter from a stick which traveled through the hard palate, and resulting infection, was JD’s undoing at the end. It might have been that or cancer but the result was one and the same.

Cookie was more into eating rocks; not really that much less dangerous–fortunately, I was able to get her to abandon the habit.

There is a balance between keeping your dog safe and letting them live their lives.

I struggle with finding the balance daily. A dog cannot live in a bubble. But being aware of the risks that being a dog comes with is important.

Related articles:
Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog: Teeth Chattering

Further reading:

Categories: Conditions • Symptoms • Teeth chattering

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Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer, dog health advocate, writer, and author. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Countless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care in my own hands. I learned the hard way that merely seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to get a diagnosis. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people how to recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners. What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

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