Bugsy has a dental tomorrow

I decided to take the plunge - I am going to try giving him a dental instead of the Depomedrol shot for his gingivitis.
He had a depo shot about a month ago, but the side effects were so bad, I don't want to put his body through that again...
I will try to see if the dental cleaning helps for a while, and if it doesn't, I will take him to the specialist to talk about the other option, which is to have his teeth removed.
Anyway, what should I expect as far as recovery? Is he going to be in pain? Is he going to be able to eat? When? Is he going to be on antibiotics again?
Please send him vibes...
Thanks!

straight dental no teeth removed likely less than a day recovery

teeth removed few days to a week of soreness

likely yes to antibiotics

here you have to ask for a pain killers

canned or soft food for a few days at least

Molly just had a dental done. She came home the same day - without any issues. She had no teeth removed.

If he looses a few teeth, he'll be sore for a few days to a week. Twitch had a full on extraction - she was really sore for about a week, and touchy about her mouth for a month. Now Cow had a full on extraction & was chewing my fingers the same day - no problems, didn't bother him at all.

If extractions, go heavy on the canned food. If none, he should be able to eat fine.

Sonja (one of my mom's cats) had a dental last year. She's about 12 years old. She lost 3 teeth during the dental, and she needed it because she had an abcessed tooth. She was on antibiotics both before and after the dental, but I don't know if this was because of the abcessed tooth or if it's routine. It took about a week before she was back to normal, but she had been pretty sick from the infection, so a cat having a routine dental might recover faster. She certainly felt a lot better when everything was taken care of, though!

Well, it was a no go... I guess I have a very honest vet - he flat out refused to do the cleaning... He took me in, examined his teeth, and told me that he is a very bad business man for not taking my $$$, but if he did it, it would help me for a couple of weeks, and that was it. He asked me about giving him another steroid shot, which I refused because of the side effects he had while on it. He told me I should think about antibiotics again, to reduce the inflammation, but I told him my concerns about him being constantly on antibiotics, and decided not to (he said he doesn't have an infection).
He then told me that in this case I need to take him to a dentist in the next week or so. He referred me to a good one. I will call them tomorrow to make an appointment. I just hope it is something I can afford... I am glad he was honest with me, as I can use the $$$ for something that will actually work. My original vet only recommended the cleaning, and wanted to charge me $400!
I am hoping the dentist will have an opening next week - his gums are so inflamed that started to bleed during the exam.
Poor guy... I have some $$$ on my budget for this now, and want to take care of it as soon as possible.
He is doing fine otherwise - he is eating and drinking well, plying, using the box, etc. I just hope once this is over he is fine...
Thanks everyone for the vibes!

That's all so sad. I'm so glad he has you to take care of him. Doesn't sound like he could have a better mom!

Hugs,

Cally

Awwww! Poor Bugsy! hugs and scritches for him. And fingers crossed that everything goes ok.