Chipped tooth!

Hi vets! My one year old chihuahua has chipped a bit off of her tooth, I realise now the antler she had was obviously too hard - ironically I bought it to help her teeth!!! Will this be okay? She’s a feisty little gremlin when she goes to the vet & usually ends up with a little muzzle on so I’m really stressing about how (if needed) a vet would manage to actually look at her teeth. Will this cause any issues for her? She doesn’t seem to be in pain - I don’t think she even knows it happened. But I’m worried it’ll cause decay or problems? Thank you in advance!! xx

Hello!   If a tooth is chipped and the pulp cavity is not exposed, it is still sometimes thought necessary to 'seal' the tooth to prevent the lesion from worsening.  If it is exposed, then infection or pain may follow - it's not as easy as you'd think to know when a dog has bad tooth-ache.  I can't see the extent of the chip from here - a tiny fragment missing when viewed from this, the lip-side (labial side) of the tooth, may turn out to be much worse when viewed from the lingual (tongue) side.  For these reasons, a dental check sounds a reasonable plan.

Sometimes, if a dog is amiable enough, a finger placed on the inside roof of the mouth can stop them from closing their mouths, allowing the vet a really good look at the inner incisors.   Other times, GA is needed.  If a GA is coming up - speying, for example - I might be tempted to ask the vet to take a look at the tooth then.