Upper Canine extraction on 15 year old kitty

I just had my 15 year old kitty's annual dental cleaning yesterday. She always has a lot of tartar and has had nearly annual cleanings since she was about 7 years old. The vet told me she had a cracked upper canine. She said she thought long and hard about it, and decided not to remove it because of the trauma the cat would have to go through. Often in these cases she said bone needs scraping and it is rough on a cat that old. The cats breath was bad, but not infection smelling and her gums weren't showing severe infection. She said she looked at it as if it were her 15 year old cat. (My vet has removed my other cats' canines' before when necessary, but they were a bit younger.). She said it seemed stable and we'd wait and see what happens. She gave her a shot of antibiotic and sent me home with some for the next 10 days. Anyway, today the cat yawned, and I swear it looked like the tooth was gone! She's still sore from yesterday's cleaning and won't let me get a better look. She's always been a spooky cat so I don't know if I'll be able to pry her mouth open for a good look but I do want to wait a couple more days for any soreness from the cleaning to subside. Has anyone ever had their cat's tooth break off like that? Especially just after having a cleaning and a vet look at it? She said I might want to go to a veterinary dentist specialist for an x-Ray if problems come up. Can't imagine what the cost of that will be! I've been doing cleanings for my cats all along so I thought I was avoiding bad teeth issues for them in old age.

Yes, I have had an old cat's toth break off just like that and disappear.  It didn't cause any problems at all.  Since your cat is already on antibiotics, I wound't get worried about whether the tooth is there or not.  If it were very loose and the root had been absorbed already, having it fall out by itself is a big blessing.

That's the thing, the vet said it seemed pretty stable. I wonder if the cleaning damaged the crack further. Maybe I just don't know what I saw when she yawned....I had 2 cats with missing canines so I'm so used to seeing their funny grins...lol...Still haven't tried to look at it again today. Trying to wait till the soreness of the cleaning might be better. According to what I can find online cats with dental issues are in pain even when you think they're not, but those sites were all written by vet dentists. I'm sure ferals have to deal with dental issues, Mother Nature must take care of them somehow.

We had an adult Maine coon, "Monster" was his name. During a routine exam we were told he needed his top "k9" teeth extracted reason: onset of decay.
He died two weeks later. Concluded by 2nd opinions reason being those teeth are VITAL. They are their for a reason. Unfortunately our Monsta adopted us so we did not have exact birthday. So older cats have ailments, just like us human "cats".
leave his mighty incisors' be.

Schrodie just had a top fang (upper left side) extracted a couple of months ago because it was broken off at the tip and the break went into the pulp chamber. A chipped tip is no problem so long as it doesn't go to the pulp, but his was more than just the white tip. It caused him a lot of pain and he did get an infection-- I can see that, given that he also has stomatitis.

The fang was extracted and he did very well with that afterwards... stomatitis notwithstanding. The bottom fang isn't poking his extraction site, either, which can sometimes happen. I'm sorry for the loss of Monster following his extractions, but I do know that MC's are more susceptible to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which can show no signs at all other than death in some cats, or it can cause an acute but serious or fatal illness. It's possible that Monster had a "silent" HCM, and the stress of anesthesia and extraction (surgery in general) could have pushed it into an active and fatal illness.

As a vet tech, I have seen this happen, and even had a case where HCM showed itself in a seemingly healthy Birman while I was inducing anesthesia for this kitten's neuter and paw mutilation-- I mean declawing. In front of me, the cat went into respiratory arrest. We reversed the anesthesia immediately and began resuscitation. The cat came through, and when he was stable, Doc did an echocardiogram on the spot. Diagnosis-- severe HCM. Very sad, too, because the lady's previous cat (also a Birman) had just died of HCM a month earlier. She had just gotten this new kitten from a breeder. She was able to return the kitten to the breeder (where he had to be PTS because the HCM was so serious), and she got another kitten from a different breeder. Brought the kitten to us for an immediate echocardiogram before even taking the little mite home... guess what? Yup, another HCM cat! She did eventually end up getting a good healthy kitten with no sign of HCM. I hope they are happy together and the kitty is still healthy!

So, it might not have been the loss of the teeth that took Monster's life, but a cardiac condition that had been silent until the anesthesia or some other medication or stress 'woke it up'.  Again, I am so sorry for your loss.

As for X rays-- heck, most of the vets here in my area are able to do dental X rays in-house. Maybe it's because I am in an area with several major vet colleges around and the emphasis on veterinary dentistry in this area, and there are a number of VERY prominent vet-dental specialists around here (some are nationally known!)... but in most places in my area (DFW), dental X rays are a routine part of any dental procedure, especially in the case of an extraction or if there are 'missing' teeth, regardless of cause. Perhaps a regular vet who does a lot of dental procedures (not necessarily a pricey 'specialist', not to knock them or their services) can do the X rays and follow-up treatments if things are found on the rads. Some vets may not be formal specialists in a particular area, but they have lots of experience and knowledge similar to a formal specialist, and they can often do just as good a job as a more expensive specialist. Maybe that's a more affordable option for you, MrsTY. Then again, I sort of take it for granted that we have these options where I am... not everyone is so fortunate. But it is something to check into, anyhow.

Thanks for your reply. Very informative. I guess that is always part of the worry putting an older cat under, how the heart reacts. My vet has done extensive dentistry on my cats in the past and they;ve not had any issues with it, including 2 other canine extractions on 2 other cats. But she did say that she doesn't have dental X-ray available. It's an expensive piece of equipment and she is a small one person vet (which is why I like her, she really is trying to do the best for the animals). There are dental vets in the area, so if I have to check them out I will. But I fear they will "do their thing" for the $$, regardless of the age of my cat. Yet I don't want her to Ilive in pain either, sooo...we do what we have to do...