Will Falconer, DVM Moderator
Hi Carolina,
I'm so glad the blog has been useful to you and your pups!
Beef bones are one of the harder bones, partly because the cow has lived longer than the younger animals like lambs, and have stouter bones than the birds (who need to conserve weight to fly!).
In my experience, the majority of healthy dogs are fine chewing beef bones, but some less than fully healthy-toothed ones will break a tooth on them. That's a shame, and the tooth may need to be pulled at some point. It's now open to deterioration, as the protective enamel has been broken away.
At this point, I'd watch it weekly, and see how your individual dog does with chewing. If the gums around the tooth become red and inflamed, or chewing becomes difficult, you'll need to get some dentistry to remove the remains.
I've also read some reports of antlers causing tooth fractures, and they've always struck me as pretty safe, though they are hard and dry compared to a fresh raw bone. Similarly, the dry, dehydrated bones sold in pet shops, usually beef, would be much harder than a good raw bone from the butcher.
The best long term approach is to work with a veterinary homeopath to increase the overall health of your dogs, and this one in particular, now that you know there is some tooth weakness. That can be a sign of inherited or acquired chronic disease, and there's nothing like homeopathy to route chronic disease.