The yorkshire terrier’s teeth are a curious thing. The Yorkshire terrier dog, like the human being – has two successive sets of teeth: the so-called milk teeth or baby teeth which are shed and replaced later by the permanent teeth.

The temporary teeth, which begin to emerge at two and a half to three weeks of the yorkie puppy’s age, offer no difficulty.

The full set of milk teeth – consisting usually of six incisors and two canines in each jaw, with four molars in the upper jaw and six molars in the lower jaw – is completed usually just before weaning time.

Except for some obvious malformation, the milk teeth may be ignored and forgotten about.

At about the fourth month, the yorkie puppy’s baby teeth are shed and gradually replaced by the permanent teeth. This shedding and replacement process may consume some three or four months.

This is about the most critical period of the Yorkshire terrier dog’s life – his adolescence.

Some healthy Yorkshire terrier dogs go through their teething easily, with no seeming awareness that the change is taking place.

Others, less vigorous, may possibly suffer from soreness of gums and require to be pampered. Yorkie puppies at these ages should be particularly protected from exposure to infectious diseases and should be fed on nutritious foods, especially meat and milk.

The adult Yorkshire terrier’s teeth normally consist of 42 – six incisors and two canines (fangs) in each jaw, with twelve molars in the upper jaw and fourteen in the lower jaw.

Occasionally, the front molars fail to emerge; this deficiency is considered by most judges to be only a minor fault if the absence is noticed at all.

The cleanliness of the Yorkshire terrier’s mouth may be brought about and the formation of tartar discouraged by the scourging of the teeth with a most cloth dipped in a mixture of equal parts of table salt and baking soda.

A hard biscuit is often recommended as a means of cleansing the yorkie dog’s teeth but it is a sales argument of the biscuit manufacturers; and the biscuit actually fails to eliminate tartar from the teeth.

In fact, the increase of carbohydrate in the diet may just further the growth of tartar instead of removing it. A large raw bone for the yorkie dog to gnaw on may tend to erode the tartar, and is at least useful in the cutting of the second teeth.