My Dog Chewed My Dentures: Can They Be Fixed? (Emergency Repair Guide)

"My Dog Chewed My Teeth!"

If you found your dentures in the jaws of your dog, take a deep breath. You are not the first person this has happened to, and you will not be the last.

At Oak Park Dental & Denture Clinic, pet-damaged dentures are one of the most common reasons for early morning emergency calls. It happens all the time.

Why do dogs do it? Can the pieces be saved? Here is your step-by-step action plan.

Why Dogs Target Dentures

Dogs do not chew false teeth out of bad behavior. They do it because of their powerful sense of smell.

To your dog, your scent represents comfort and safety. Because dentures spend all day in your mouth, they are saturated with your unique scent markers. When you place your teeth on the bedside table or bathroom vanity, your dog smells you. They pick up the plate to be close to your scent, and because PMMA dental acrylic feels like a hard chew bone, their natural chewing instinct kicks in.

What NOT to Do (The Superglue Mistake)

If you gather the chewed fragments and consider supergluing them together, stop immediately.

1. Superglue is toxic: Cyanoacrylate adhesives release harsh chemicals when dissolved by warm saliva and irritate gum tissue.
2. You destroy the repair margins: A dental technician aligns fractured acrylic along original microscopic fracture lines. Superglue melts and contaminates those edges, making clean laboratory re-alignment impossible.

Can Chewed Dentures Be Fixed in the Lab?

In most cases, yes. The outcome depends on the severity of the bite damage:

1. Clean Snap or Dislodged Teeth (High Success Rate)

If your dog snapped the pink base in two or popped out individual artificial teeth without crushing the plastic into powder, we can chemically fuse the base and replace missing teeth with matching acrylic in 1 to 2 hours.

2. Chewed Edges or Puncture Marks (Moderate Damage)

If the pink gum flange has tooth punctures or minor missing sections, we take a quick in-mouth impression, pour a stone master model, and rebuild the missing acrylic in our laboratory.

3. Crushed Framework or Ingested Pieces (Severe Damage)

If large sections of the plate were swallowed or crushed into tiny splinters, the denture cannot be safely reconstructed. In this case, we use your remaining mouth impressions to fast-track a replacement set.

Your Step-by-Step Emergency Steps

1. Collect every single fragment: Pick up all pieces from the floor, including tiny chips of pink acrylic and individual white teeth. Place them in a clean container with a damp paper towel.
2. Check your dog's mouth and health: Ensure your pet did not cut their gums or swallow large, sharp acrylic fragments. If your dog swallowed a substantial piece, phone your local vet for advice.
3. Never attempt to wear sharp, chewed plates: Jagged acrylic edges will slice your gums and tongue.
4. Call our Oak Park laboratory on (03) 9306 6555: Bring the fragments directly to our clinic on Snell Grove. We will examine the pieces under magnification and tell you immediately whether we can repair them on the spot.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do if my dog swallowed a piece of my denture?

Monitor your dog closely and call your veterinarian. Small plastic fragments usually pass safely through the digestive tract, but large pieces with sharp edges or metal clasps (from partial dentures) can cause intestinal obstruction or internal lacerations.

How much does it cost to repair a dog-chewed denture in Melbourne?

Straightforward tooth replacements and fracture repairs at our Oak Park on-site lab typically cost between $160 and $280. If significant sections of the acrylic gum flange need to be rebuilt with new impressions, costs range from $290 to $450.

How can I prevent my dog from getting my dentures in the future?

Never leave your dentures loose on a bedside table, desk, or bathroom vanity. Always store them inside a hard, snap-locking denture bath filled with clean water, placed safely inside a closed bathroom cabinet or high drawer out of your pet's reach.

Will pet insurance cover my dog chewing my dentures?

Standard pet insurance policies cover veterinary medical treatment for your pet, but they do not cover damage to your personal belongings. However, some Australian home and contents insurance policies include accidental damage cover that may help reimburse replacement denture costs.

Bring Your Chewed Dentures In for Assessment

Do not assume your teeth are ruined until our Dental Prosthetist inspects the pieces. Bring them straight into our Oak Park clinic.