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Originally Posted by airplane  Just last week Bijou had a dental done at a clinic. He had to have a tooth removed because it was causing issues and even affecting him being able to eat. And then they had to cut some of his gum tissue cause it was reacting and growing over the tooth and they also did a cleaning as well. He is very old and turns 18 this summer. Regarding the comments about old age not being a factor in the dangerousness of anesthesia, I can share my experiences about that.
I've had vets tell me that old age is not a disease in itself and that if they are healthy the risk is no different than a young healthy dog. But I've had other vets tell me that with the older patients they prefer not to do the anesthesia and that they instead do a sedative because otherwise they won't wake up off the table from the anesthesia. So for me its always confusing when I get different advice from different doctors. I don't know the statistics on it and I'm not a veterinarian so I can't speak from experience about that issue. But for Bijou's dental appointment, this time the vet convinced me that doing the sedative option was best. So there was no tube down his throat or anything like that, plus there was a medication that could be given that could take him right out of the sedation. The vet said he had never lost an old age patient using the sedative instead of the general anesthesia. And there was no issues. It went perfectly. I'm still confused about it though because I do know other vets who don't have that opinion and will be willing to do the anesthesia without giving regard to the age of your dog. I think its just one of those things where there isn't a general consensus and it just kinda depends on what your vet thinks. |
A dental should never be done without intubation. Water is used in dentals and without the tube they will breath water in as well as all the germs being scrapped off the teeth and then you are looking at pneumonia. There are medications that pull dogs right out of anesthesia too. Never would I do just sedation for a dental.