Growth On Gum

[Guest brindleandfawn]

The other day when I went to brush Cooper's teeth I notice a small round growth in the front of his upper gum (near his right canine,) which seemed to "pop-up" overnight. He has seemed to be a little off his game, relatively sluggish, and doesn't seem as interested in his afternoon wet food treat. Took him to the Vet today, she said he seemed relatively healthy, no fever, etc. She said that dogs get these growths from time to time. That they are usually not an issue, and usually don't cause discomfort when they are this small, but in a greyhound (and because it may be rubbing against the lower canine) may be causing some pain. She suggested removing it now while it is small, because it can grow and become irritated, and even bleed, which can be difficult to control. She said on rare occasions these growths can turn out to be malignant (another reason to remove it sooner rather than later) and suggested we might want to have it biopsied. Has anyone had any experience with similar growths in the mouths of their greys?

[Guest Fasave]

It could be an epulis (sp?). My boy had one removed from the roof of his mouth near his front two teeth. I believe they can grow from the roots of the teeth as the dentist removed two teeth at the same time. I elected to remove it because the bottom teeth were hiting it and causing it to bleed. It was benign.

[Shaysmom]

Seamus had a similar growth, and they removed it during his dental. They called it an epulis? I was worried that it might be malignant, but it wasn't. Our vet said also that they are common and usually not a problem, but that it was best to take it out. He hasn't had another one since--it was two years ago or so. Best wishes and scritches to Cooper.

[Charlies_Dad]

Yes. We just had a similar growth removed from Shelby's mouth. Turned out to be malignant and unfortunately she had complications from the surgery (excessive bleeding). The type of cancer she has is rare in the mouth so it's very likely Cooper doesn't have the same but we decided to remove it because it was growing and was about marble size as well we want to perform a biopsy.

[Guest BrianRke]

Yes, Daytona had one of these removed several months ago. The Dr. told me what it was but I cant remember now. He did say that it was harmless and he removed it in less than a minute and didnt even charge me to do it. I noticed a couple weeks ago, he is getting another one and they told me to wait till it gets a little bigger and bring him back in.

 

I was assured that it was no big deal.

[Guest brindleandfawn]

Thanks for the good input. The vet did say she thought it was an epulis, just wanted to know what others' experience was. Was wondering if there was a possiblity of recurrence and what the odds were (hoping they weren't high). Like so many things with greys sounds like there is great variability in outcomes and experience.

 

Sorry to hear Shelby had such a bad experience.

 

Daytona's Vet was nice to remove it for free, we are going to go ahead and have Cooper's removed, and have his teeth cleaned at the same time. The estimate cost quoted by the vet is $500, not including any possible extractions, but it does include bloodwork, and a biopsy.. .

[Hubcitypam]

Poodle has had one on his upper gum for at least 4 years. It is now small pea size. The vet said considering his current state of health to just leave it alone, but some vets would want to remove it.

 

A farily well know GH vet told me oftentimes mouth tumors were bad news, but as long as it was pink, not black (bad news) and wasn't growing by leaps and bounds to just keep an eye on it.

[GreyPoopon]

A couple of my girls have some gum overgrowth. Theirs don't interfere with anything. Neither needs a dental, so they've been left alone. Vet is not concerned.

[Rickiesmom]

I am going through this right now with Jaynie. Dental surgeon thought it was probably an epulis but took a small biopsy sample to be sure. She said they don't want to disturb it too much til they know what they are dealing with.

 

Should it turn out to be malignant there are various surgical options available depending on how invasive it is. If caught early, they can do a bone-sparing procedure that will remove some bone, but leave the bottom most line of bone. Otherwise they will remove a chunk of jaw.

 

While there are techniques under these circumstances to keep the jaw from drifting, it was her opinion most would not be optimal in a greyhound. The jaw would therefore drift somewhat, but apparently the dogs adjust quite well.

 

This was the gist of it - I am probably over-simplifying and in the process leaving out some important considerations.

 

We don't have Jaynie's biopsy results back yet, so I have no more detailed information.

 

All fingers and paws crossed here that Cooper has a simple epulis!

[seeh2o]

Claudia, Californiagreys, boy Wayne had one. It came up really fast and got big. She had it removed and biopsied, I can't remember what it was called, but the most important thing was that it was b-9.

[Guest brindleandfawn]

More good info, we set this Friday as the date to have Cooper's epulis removed, please keep your fingers crossed for him for a easy surgery and good results..

 

We're keeping our fingers crossed for Jaynie's biopsy results to be negative.

[Guest greytkidsmom]

Kebo's saga started with a small pink pea-sized growth next to an upper canine. It was biopsied during a dental but not removed. It was after the biopsy that it started to grow like a weed. The biopsy said the growth was benign. It was actually a fibrosarcoma. Glad to know you are having it removed and hope that all is well for your boy.

 

I am going through this right now with Jaynie. Dental surgeon thought it was probably an epulis but took a small biopsy sample to be sure. She said they don't want to disturb it too much til they know what they are dealing with.

 

Should it turn out to be malignant there are various surgical options available depending on how invasive it is. If caught early, they can do a bone-sparing procedure that will remove some bone, but leave the bottom most line of bone. Otherwise they will remove a chunk of jaw.

 

While there are techniques under these circumstances to keep the jaw from drifting, it was her opinion most would not be optimal in a greyhound. The jaw would therefore drift somewhat, but apparently the dogs adjust quite well.

 

This was the gist of it - I am probably over-simplifying and in the process leaving out some important considerations.

 

We don't have Jaynie's biopsy results back yet, so I have no more detailed information.

 

All fingers and paws crossed here that Cooper has a simple epulis!

 

Not to hijack but we have lots of experience with maxillectomy and if you end up needing advice, feel free to PM or email me.