I just went to a dental seminar and the vet said that most teeth are really not needed for dogs anymore. That really all they need is the back grinders and all the others can be pulled w/o the dogs having problems. They will usually try to save the canines, but only because they "look" better. I hope that helps
On dogs with horrible teeth they sometimes have to pull every single tooth and the dogs are still fine, but have to eat soft canned food after that.