viewing lump in mouth

Question
Greetings,
This is not a medical question, but more about procedures. My dog was yawning the other day and I noticed a growth (or maybe swollen gum) right between his carnassial tooth. It's not easy to see. I can open my dog's mouth sometimes, but it's so far back, he's not that collaborative. My dog is also very nervous at the vet and I always muzzle him for safety (he's a rottie) and you never know how he may react in being restrained by strangers etc. I want to take him to the vet in the next few days, but I am nervous about it. How can they look in the mouth if I always muzzle him? I was thinking these days to try to take a picture of it, in case they have a hard time looking and to save my dog from a negative experience. So was wondering if you have any tips? I can try to train him to open his mouth more, but it's not easy in a short period of time like this. So wondering what the vet will do if it's hard to look at or if he's not collaborative. I really want him muzzled and prevent a negative experience! He often wont take treats at the vet as he's nervous.

Answer
Depending on how old your dog is, and whether or not he has ever had his teeth cleaned, this might be the time to have that done.

To do that the dog has to be anesthetized, so the doctor can get in there and really look over his mouth. That way he can do a complete oral exam.  

Most likely he has a bit of gum overgrowth, or gingival hyperplasia, as we call it. If they are small the vet will usually leave them, but if they are large the vet will remove them as they can growth large enough to interfere with the dogs chewing.

Since dogs can get things like melanomas and other tumors in the mouth however, your vet might want to do a very thorough exam even if he doesn't have a dental cleaning at that time.

In either case if your dog is a threat or uncooperative,it's going to be safer all the way around to give him a bit of a sedative to visualize his entire mouth.

It's just not worth the absolute danger of trying to look into a dogs mouth that would rather bite you than be helpful!