Dental Poll
 

This is a two question poll.

What type of anesthesia is used by your vet and do they have dental xray on site...

Since standard of care is general anesthesia with intubation and preferably xray present if pulling teeth, I wanted to see how common other methods are.

Poll is private. We can't see who voted for which option.

General anesthesia, intubation, and xray on site --- $99 each. eek!

General anesthesia, intubation, not sure if they have dentle x-ray on site (but voted for on site). I asked & they said it's not needed, wish they did. Momo had 3 back molars pulled & his saliva glands are still swollen. It was fine needle aspirated & sent out, came back as salivary tissue. In his case, I wish they did dental x-rays, to see what's really going on back there.

Both places Callie had dental work done one a vet dentist and one our regular vet the did anesthesia, intubation, and xray on site. They also have some one who's job is to just watch the and monitor the dogs stats which is very important to me.

I don't see the amount of sedation needed for the worried Yorkie Mum listed in the options. ;)

Although I hate the intubation part (because poor Jenna comes away coughing for days afterwards) our vet says it is absolutely necessary due to the chemicals they use to help take the tartar off her teeth, which would be fatal if aspirated.

I'm pretty certain they do the x-rays too, but I don't remember seeing them this last time she was cleaned. I am curious though if anyone here has dentals done more frequently than once a year? It seems like Jenna's teeth are bad again within a month of being done, and of course her dragon breath is abominable. (She is on a specialized hard kibble diet and not allowed any chew treats.)

no drugs
 

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.

dentals
 

OK
I appreciate your point of view. I do, however, believe that if you have been working at trying to keep your pup's mouth clean, they have gotten used to brushing, scraping, spraying, etc.
Just for the record, I would never terrify or deliberately torture or hurt my dog in any way. I am not trying to be argumentative, but I feel as if I have been portrayed as a mad scientist type that was completely uncaring.
My dogs trusted me and required very little restraint. Small amounts of work were done frequently and a little soothing massage administered at the same time along with a bit of lavender always helped the attitude. They were never held still for hours or repeatedly rested an worked on again. Such an idea is absolutely dreadful and unfathomable.
Fortunately I never came upon a pus pocket etc. If I had, I would have visited my vet. By being diligent in my care, I believe I was more than just lucky.
Please do me the kindness in the future of questioning something that may not seem quite right to you instead of making an automatic assumption that you know with absolute certainty that you are right, I am wrong, and I deserve to be lectured. I know we all jump to conclusions some times. I was a bit taken aback, but not angry. I,also, have a tendency to say what I feel straight up, but have learned that i'm better off taking a deep breath first and thinking about it a bit.