Until today I was unaware that puppies can get braces that help realign their bite while saving them from a life of tooth problems and possibly even death.
Meet Wesley.
This six month old golden retriever is energetic and loving, but his owner, Molly, soon realized that he was having problems with his teeth.
“Once his adult teeth started coming out, we noticed they were coming in wrong and he was unable to close his mouth fully … He wasn’t playing with his toys and he was losing weight. It was very worrying for me, and we needed to do something for him to be pain free and live a happy puppy life.”
Molly’s dad, Dr. Jim Moore, is a vet who happens to specialize in veterinary dentistry, and he had a solution for Wesley — braces!
He explains that this isn’t done for cosmetic reasons: “We do this for pain or function.”
Molly added that many people don’t understand. “They think we did this so he won’t get picked on in the playground, but there’s a serious medical reason.”
Wesley was suffering from a condition called malocclusion, which happens when the dog’s teeth don’t fit together comfortably with a closed mouth.
Wesley was put under for the braces and when he awoke he was wearing braces and happy.
He was put under while getting his braces on.
But once awake he was his happy self again.
“He’s just so cute with them on. I feel like that’s what I looked like when I got braces at 12,” Molly says.
Here’s the final result with Wesley’s braces still in place.
It will only take a few short weeks for his bite to be fixed and the braces removed.
