When Do Puppies Lose Their Baby Teeth?

Puppies start losing their 28 baby teeth around 12 to 16 weeks, beginning with the front incisors, and finish teething with a full set of 42 adult teeth by about six months. You will rarely find the lost teeth; most get swallowed harmlessly. Baby teeth that refuse to fall out are the one thing worth a vet’s attention.

The Timeline, Tooth by Tooth

Puppies are born toothless; the 28 needle-sharp baby teeth arrive between three and six weeks (as anyone who has fed a litter can testify). The changeover runs on a fairly reliable schedule: incisors, the little front teeth, fall out first around 12 to 16 weeks; canines, the fangs, follow around four to five months; premolars and the new molars, which have no baby predecessors, complete the set by six to seven months. In your house this looks like: tiny teeth occasionally found in the carpet (most are swallowed, harmlessly), spots of blood on chew toys (normal), breath that briefly smells odd (normal), and a puppy with an urgent, full-time need to chew on something, ideally not your baseboards.

Surviving the Chewing Months

Teething discomfort peaks right alongside the biting phase (our guide on when puppies stop biting covers the behavior half). The practical toolkit: rubber chew toys with some give, a wet washcloth twisted and frozen for sore gums, frozen carrots for supervised gnawing, and rotation, because novelty is half the appeal. Skip real bones, antlers, and hooves during teething; they are harder than baby teeth and crack them. Skip ice cubes for the same reason. And puppy-proof like you mean it, because a teething puppy chews electrical cords with the same enthusiasm as approved toys, and only one of those is survivable.

Retained Teeth: the One Real Problem

Sometimes a baby tooth refuses to leave while its adult replacement erupts beside it, producing a double row, most often the upper canines, and most often in small breeds like the Chihuahua, Yorkie, and Maltese. Retained teeth crowd the adult tooth out of position and trap food between the pair, setting up early dental disease. The fix is extraction, usually scheduled conveniently alongside spay or neuter. Check your puppy’s mouth weekly from four months; two teeth in one spot is a vet appointment, not an emergency. After six months, the adult set is in for life, and daily brushing from now on is the single cheapest health habit you can build; our dental care guide shows you how to make it a routine the dog accepts.