Incisor tooth removal

Hello everyone,

Timothy Titus had a checkup this week and we discovered he has bad teeth. We also found out he isn't 14 months old but actually closer to 2-3 years.

Anyhow, Timothy has red gums and a chipped canine (incisor?) tooth with the pulp exposed. The vet says he will have to have it removed at some point, but for now it doesn't seem to be bothering him.

Apparently removing the canine can be risky because the root is so deep, and sometimes a gap is left that can connect into the sinus. I am quite worried about this.

I will start brushing his teeth once he's a little more used to me (we've had him 2.5 weeks) although he HATES having his face touched. I can't even imagine him ever allowing me to brush.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

A few years ago I started brushing my cats' teeth...the cats were 11 & 6 at the time. We started VERY slowly...basically, whenever they were relaxing with me I would play with their mouths, getting them used to having me touch that area. When they were comfortable with that, I moved on to moving my finger around on their teeth. When that stopped being objectionable, I put kitty toothpaste on my finger (they prefer the Seafood flavor) & would brush using just my finger. I bought a tiny cat toothbrush that fit over my finger (C.E.T. Toothbrush-mini - I bought it at my vet's office but you can get it at this link if interested: http://lambriarvetsupply.com/Dental-...tes-Rinses.php) & finally incorporated it into the routine. It took about 2 months altogether but I now have 2 cats who will allow brushing (one LOVES it, due to her love of the toothpaste ) & only one who still loathes the process.

Amanda

Arthur had to get an incisor removed a few months ago as he fell and broke it. (He has severe Cerebellar Hypoplasia) He had to be on antibiotics for 2 weeks and got twice daily flushes of the socket with an pet dental rinse. He also got some pretty strong pain medicine. He's healed up just fine, though.
We brush our kitties' teeth with an electric toothbrush! They freaked out at first, but got used to it, well, as used to tooth-brushing as cats can get!