Content
- canine epilepsy
- Periodontal disease in dogs
- Malocclusion
- Toothache
- Stress
- gastrointestinal disease in dogs
- Cold
When a dog moves its mouth as if it's chewing, grinding its teeth or tapping its jaw, he is said to have bruxism. Teeth grinding, brichism or bruxism is a clinical sign that arises as a result of several causes. The reasons that lead a dog to do strange things with his mouth can be many, from external causes, such as cold or stress, to painful internal illnesses, nervous and derived from poor hygiene.
Bruxism in dogs is usually accompanied by more clinical signs depending on the source and a creaking sound from contact between teeth. Later, they can come into contact with the soft tissues of the oral cavity and produce lesions that predispose to secondary infections. The causes are very different, so they can range from oral diseases to neurological, behavioral, environmental or gastrointestinal pathologies. So if you ask yourself why does your dog do weird things with his mouth or what causes bruxism, in this article by PeritoAnimal we will treat the most common causes separately.
canine epilepsy
Epilepsy is an abnormal electrical activity of the brain due to spontaneous depolarization of nerve cells, causing an epileptic seizure in which they occur. short term changes in the dog. It is the most common neurological disorder in canine species. As a result of epilepsy, a dog can flap its mouth and grind its teeth by moving its jaw.
Epilepsy in dogs has the following stages:
- Prodromal Phase: characterized by restlessness in the dog, precedes the apprehension phase and lasts from minutes to days.
- aura phase: there is a motor, sensory, behavioral or autonomic dysfunction. It is a phase that lasts from seconds to minutes before the onset of a seizure or epileptic fit.
- Ictus Phase: consists of the phase of seizure or epilepsy itself, and may be focal if it affects only a part of the brain and epilepsy only occurs at the level of specific areas such as the face or limb; or generalized if it affects the whole brain and the dog loses consciousness, with salivation, movements of all parts of the body and rapid involuntary muscle contractions.
- Post-Ictus Phase: As a result of exhaustion at the brain level, dogs may become somewhat depressed, aggressive, hungry, thirsty, or having difficulty walking.
Periodontal disease in dogs
Another issue that we can observe in a dog's mouth is periodontal disease in dogs, which occurs after bacterial plaque formation in dogs' teeth because the accumulated food debris serves as a substrate for the dogs' oral bacteria, which begin to multiply rapidly to form a bacterial plaque. This plaque comes into contact with canine saliva and yellowish tartar forms and adheres to teeth. Furthermore, the bacteria continue to multiply and feed, spreading to the gums, causing inflammation of the gums (gingivitis).
Dogs with periodontitis will have mouth pains that cause bruxism, that is, we will be facing a dog with strange movements with the mouth, as well as gingivitis and halitosis (bad breath). Also, as the disease progresses, teeth can fall out and bacteria can enter the bloodstream, reaching the blood vessels, causing septicemia and reaching the dog's internal organs, which can cause digestive, respiratory and cardiac signs.
Malocclusion
Prognathism in dogs is a dental malocclusion due to improper teeth alignment, which causes the bite to be inaccurate or well-aligned, thus causing bite asymmetry (imperfect bite) and associated clinical signs.
Malocclusion can be of three types:
- undershot: the lower jaw is more advanced than the upper one. This type of malocclusion is recognized as standard in certain dog breeds such as the boxer, English bulldog or pug.
- Brachygnathism: also called parrot mouth, is a hereditary disorder in which the upper jaw advances towards the lower, with the upper incisors in front of the lower ones.
- Crooked mouth: this is the worst form of malocclusion and consists of one side of the jaw growing faster than the other, twisting the mouth.
The associated clinical signs you may notice in a dog's mouth are teeth grinding when making normal mouth movements, food coming out of the mouth when chewing, and a predisposition to infection or wound when chewing.
Toothache
Like people, dogs with toothaches too chatter to "detour the pain" almost reflexively.
Sometimes bruxism is the only clinical sign that indicates a painful dental process, either inflammatory, neoplastic, infectious or a tooth fracture. When puppies begin to develop permanent teeth, some also tend to grind their teeth as a way to alleviate the discomfort. If you notice him doing this, look into the dog's mouth to make sure this is the cause.
Stress
Stressful Situations and Anxiety Problems they can also cause puppies to do strange things with their mouths like grinding their teeth, especially while they sleep. It is also possible to observe that the dog appears to chew gum, constantly sticks its tongue in and out, or moves its mouth rapidly as a result of this stress or anxiety.
Although dogs are less sensitive to stress than cats, they can also experience stress in similar situations, such as moving house, introduction of new animals or people, frequent noises, illness, anger or discomfort from the tutor, or changes in routine. However, this reaction in dogs is much less common than in people.
Check out 10 signs of stress in dogs.
gastrointestinal disease in dogs
Similar to what happens with toothache or gingivitis, when a dog has pain due to an illness along the digestive tract, it can manifest with bruxism.
esophageal disorders such as esophagitis, gastritis, gastric or intestinal ulcers and other pathologies of the esophagus, stomach and intestine can cause a dog to do strange things with its mouth because of the pain and discomfort it causes.
Cold
The cold can affect dogs a lot and can cause hypothermia and thus putting your health at risk. One of the first symptoms of hypothermia is clearly visible: the dog may start to shake, including the teeth.
Thereafter, the respiratory rate is reduced, there is numbness, drowsiness, dry skin, lethargy, low blood pressure, reduced heart rate, hypoglycemia, depression, pupillary dilation, stare, depression, collapse and even death.
Now that you know the different reasons why your dog does weird things with his mouth, don't miss the following video where we talk about the five reasons why a dog is on its back:
This article is for information purposes only, at PeritoAnimal.com.br we are not able to prescribe veterinary treatments or perform any type of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case it has any type of condition or discomfort.
If you want to read more articles similar to My Dog Does Strange Things With His Mouth - Causes, we recommend that you enter our Other health problems section.