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Originally Posted by merripups  My friend and I were lucky enough to have a vet that taught us to use a cavitron(?), scaling machine. Then she helped us find and buy one.
Because we knew our own dogs and they trusted us,(still not easy) we were able to hold our own dog while the other used the machine.
It was worth all the trouble to not have intubation and drugs. Also, we could do it as often as necessary but we both did hand scaling to keep things in check. This was some years ago and I no longer have the machine.
I am now using a grain free diet and am amazed at how good my dogs mouths are staying |
Usually the pain and fear of having their teeth scaled under the gumline, together with the length of time it takes and requiring a dog to be held still for that long, is far is too stressful for most of us to allow our dogs to endure. And thorough under-the-gumline cleaning is such a very important aspect of the professional cleaning in the toy Yorkie's tiny mouth and not just scaling the tooth and makes the cleaning process many times more difficult than in any other size dogs. I notice when humans have under gumline scaling done, we usually go to a periodontal surgeon and demand some manor of sedation because it hurts badly. Some Yorkies get GI upsets from even minor stress so I can't imagine how hard it would be for one going through an hour or more of wide-awake dental under gumline scaling and pain. The little baby would have to lie there, totally restrained and very still for a long, long time and the technician be quite skilled to really, truly and fully clean a full set of dog's teeth without damaging the gums, particularly in dogs with a predisposition to severe dental or gum disease. What happens if you run across a pus pocket or area of inflammation, an iffy tooth?
Further, with the humane breaks you'd have to give the dog to keep the it from getting overly stressed, panicking, it's bound to take twice as long or more as the anesthetized cleaning and to ask any little Yorkie to endure that level of discomfort, fear, confinement and stress is far worse to me than the risk of today's dental cleaning anesthesia protocols.
I notice we humans opt for the comfort and risk of anesthesia over pain and being wide awake during dental or medical procedures almost every time we're given the chance. Why? We hate the pain, stress and fear of them.