Worried about teeth cleaning!!
 

Hi everyone, New to the site but have been reading posts on here for quite some time and now I joined because I am terribly worried about this teeth cleaning my 4yr old baby Tonka has to get on Friday. He had lost his front tooth randomly last week and me being me, over panicked and brought him to the vet. Since he has bad breath and is extremely fussy when you try getting in his mouth to inspect, the vet had strongly suggested the teeth cleaning also so she can check his mouth for the tooth that came out and make sure all of that was OK... I am such a big baby and I know he has to be under anesthesia to do this, but I have heard stories about little dogs and the effects of it and how a little too much can omggodforbid kill them. He is 6lbs and I just need to hear from anyone else that has had this done, and how everything went. Please ease my mind :confused:

Also, any tips on what to expect after I bring him home. Thank you!!

yes , you are right. There is always a risk with anesthesia. Most dogs come thru it just fine.
make sure you have pre op bloodwork done.
i can't remember the name but there is a special anesthesia the vets use for very small animals.
check with your vet on this..
i know you cant help but worry , its natural .
i am sure your little one will be fine and he will feel better with nice clean teeth..

As long as you get blood work before he should be fine. It sounds like his mouth bothers him and needs to be cleaned. Not getting dental's when they need them can cause other problems. I would also suggest after the dental you start brushing his teeth.

This happened to me a few months ago. I was brushing Taycie's teeth and noticed a loose tooth so I took her in and then scheduled a dental.

Make sure to do pre- surgical bloodwork and you should be just fine. I know how stressful it can be but it will all work out. Also best thing to do after is to reguarly brush the teeth.

Good luck!

It will be fine! I was worried, too. Jackson went under for his dental back in November. I just made sure to get the best place possible for him to go and also got the pre-op bloodwork. He did perfectly fine. Bit whiny and groggy for a few hours afterwards and then back to himself the next day. :)

((hugs))

The risk of death from anesthesia is very small.
I am sure your baby will be fine.
One of my babies is an older dog and she is high risk and even she goes down and wakes right up for dentals.

Keep us posted on how it goes!

We don't put dogs under for dentals in CA really, its rare unleas you find an old school vet.

Most mildly sedate here.

Teeth being pulled can be done while under but not always then either.

Its strange to me everywhere else puts dogs under.

Actually I heard OR, WA &the NE don't aleays put them inder too.

In the same breath so manu vets here will sedate your dog if you want to fet them groomed, its crazy.

Dentals are only safely done under anesthesia. It is not safe to do a dental, nor is it medically appropriate to do a dental, without your dog placed under general anesthesia. Any vet doing a dental without anesthesia is a vet that would never touch my dog. And any person doing a dental without having a license to practice veterinary medicine would never touch my dog. There is no way to properly assess or grade the mouth, or safely scale below the gum line without the dog anesthetized and there certainly is no way to remove diseased teeth while they are awake.

OP, your dentist is proposing to do what every other reputable veterinary practitioner including board certified dentists would do to ensure the safety of your pet.

CG - I'm not sure what your vet is doing, but my brief online visit to a couple board certified dentist vets in CA revealed that they in fact anesthetize animals for dentals, as they should, and is the standard of care. And given that the dentist who just did my dog hails from CA herself, I can tell you that my dog was anesthetized for the oral procedure and she is CA trained.

Here is the position statement from the American College of Veterinary Dentistry about this for anyone who wants to know more.

http://avdc.org/Dental_Scaling_Without_Anesthesia.pdf

Hey Everyone, thanks so much! I feel better hearing a lil feedback about it. I will definitely start brushing them more religiously and stock up on some good bones! I do trust his vet, I have been going there for quite some time.. Thanks again =] I love this site! Hope everyone has a fantastical day and I will update when Tonka is back home <3

It is fairly common to have dentals done on dogs these days. People think that dry food is supposed to keep the dogs teeth clean and that is not true. Anesthesia is to be avoided if possible but if it has to be done it has to be done.
In the future you might consider brushing your dog's teeth with an enzymatic cleaner. They also sell enzyme sprays and gels that work well. I have seen chews that have enzymes in them also but have never used them. It might be worth looking into in order to avoid having to go through this again.

Like I said its standard here.
I'm not going to debate the facts with you, as I said its odd cheaper and old school vet do it here but many dont. I didn't specify what my vet 's stance on this is actually so no, yiu don't know what my vet is doing.

I'll also add many grooming salons are run by vet techs and they do a lil more than standard grooming often, especially in So Cal dentals are done at grooming salons.

Sophie Kate had her dentals in July, I was a NEUROTIC MESS!!! breath deep and relax it will be over soon.

As other have said Sophie Kate was put under for her teeth cleaning and was at the vet the entire day. She was coughing a lot for the first couple of days she came home but recovered nicely. Strange enough she could not bark the first day but she is back to barking now (oh is she ever).

My suggestion is read through the forum, there are a lot of posts on teeth cleaning. The members here will help you through it, we are good that way.

I live in Cali and I hardly see dental's being done with no anesthesia- I have seen groomers claim to have teeth cleaning with no anesthesia but never have I seen Vet's offer it...

IMO dental's should be done under anesthesia.

i live in maine and my vet uses anesthesia for dentals as well. I really think it would be much too painful for the dog not too.
when oscar had 2 baby canines only to pull
my did use just a sedative for that.

The fact is that a dental without anesthesia is unsafe and nothing more than of mediocre cosmetic benefit. The American college of veterinary dentisty agrees with me. I would take this up with your vet and point out they are unfamiliar with the standard of care as the experts in the area see it.

:thumbup::thumbup:

OP: there is always risk with anesthesia, but the risk of getting serious medical problems from a diseased mouth is greater. Preop bloodwork and a good anesthetic protocol eliminates most of the risk.

Dentals without anesthesia are almost entirely cosmetic. A groomer scaling teeth and making them white doesn't mean the mouth is not diseased. If somebody does this who is not under the supervision of a veterinarian, then they are practicing without a license. There is risk of injury to the animal, no xrays, etc. And on top of that, being awake means no intubation which means risk of a ton of bacteria going down the throat at once and aspiration.

I had Abby's teeth cleaned in February. She is 2 1/2 pounds, and she did fine. The anesthesia they use is different for smaller dogs-they use less of what would keep them sedate and sleepy after the procedure. I too worry about getting her put under, but I know it has to be done! :animal-pa

I live in Washington state and my vet uses general anesthesia to clean our dog's teeth (Kipper is getting his teeth brushed every day and isn't old enough for teeth cleaning yet). I might also mention that it is NOT bones that help clean or keep a dog's teeth cleaned, but rather the enzymes they need to break down the plaque. This is provided in the doggie toothpaste the vet will give you so if you are consistent about brushing his teeth, you will probably get to delay another teeth cleaning for a longer time. Having been a dental assistant when I was younger, it scares me to think that groomers are providing this service. As one person posted on this thread, there is VERY harmful bacteria that comes loose when cleaning teeth. My daughter had to be premedicated because of a heart defect and the danger that the bacteria set loose could have gone straight to her heart and been life threatening. Teeth cleaning is not a minor deal, in my opinion. It is important for the health and well being of both dog and master.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Absolutely agree!

And I am definitely into any way a more "natural" approach can be taken, but in the case of dentals, I would NEVER trust anyone who was doing scaling, etc, without the use of anesthesia.

It's pretty standard now for dogs to be put under for dentals.

I didn't know and was never told about a risk of bacteria.

My groomer is a vet tech and she did a scraping on Elvis' teeth after our first vet we don't go to anymore for another issue. She disagreed about medication for his epilepsy as gis seizuee episodes were months apart. Anyways it is pretty standard that dogs don't go under here (inless for tooth removal).
I'm glad you shared this as now I'm concerned a risk wasn't presented to me.
We've been waiting to get Elvis' seizures under total control with meds to co sider putting him under for extractiins and neutering, but I think I 'm going to call the vet and ask about the bacteria concerns now...my poor new vet for the last year is probably sick of seeong YT threads I print out.

Tonka is home and sleeping on my lap =] they didn't give any pain meds, no teeth pulled.. Just gave some Amoxicillin. The said he did very well. So no food or drink tonight, just ice chips.... I don't know how well this is going to go over because come 6pm, this little boy wants his dinner! I'm sure he's just going to sleep the rest of the day.. Thanks again everyone!