Dog tooth injury/rotting? Gray tooth that looks chipped

Hi everyone! I recently adopted a 5 y/o female Aussie and everything seemed to be going well with her health except for bad breath. I tried dental treats and water additive to no avail. Upon playing with her today I was able to see one of her very back teeth and it was gray, looked chipped, and I’m not a vet or a dentist by any means, but I’m pretty sure I also saw exposed dentin. She has a vet appointment scheduled for next week anyway, but I wanted to post here to see if this was potentially painful. If you think it’s painful, I’ll see if I can get her into an emergency vet ASAP. She is a bit slower to eat but she does finish her food eventually. I’ll also ease her off of bones and chews in the meantime. Thank you! 

Hello and what an interesting question.  It's interesting because it seems to me quite likely that this tooth may be painful - she is eating more slowly yet seems to want the food - yet when you mentioned an emergency vet, I automatically thought 'no need for that - it's not an emergency,' as of course, this is a chronic problem.  And then I heard myself, and thought about it.  If I had a toothache that was so painful it was stopping or reducing my eating, I think I would want to get some pain releif on board sooner than that.  I think that culturally, in both the medical and veterinary professions, we have historically ignored chronic pain at times and are only just realising the importance of tackling it this generation.  I'll leave it up to you whether you want to do the emergency trip - indeed, if the mouth is painful then it would be a good idea to consider some pain releif earlier.  Can your usual vet triage over the phone for some pain releif for the next few days?  As a minimum then softer / less painful / easy to eat food (perhaps followed gently with a tooth brush) may be a good idea.    Never give dogs human pain meds, because it's very easy to give overdoses by accident.  Best of luck!