recent dental work, but he's still grinding his teeth

my cat hector, who is somewhere between 9 and 13 (got him and olivia from the humane society 2 years ago) was grinding his teeth (usually after he ate) so we took him to the vet, and he had a dental cleaning and a bunch of teeth pulled. he reacted pretty badly to being put under, and was really groggy for a few days afterwards and had no appetite. that was just over a month ago. he's back to his old self, and his appetite has been GREAT especially the past 2 weeks!

but after the surgery, he was still grinding his teeth after he ate. at first, figured it was just because he was in a bit of pain from the stitches and everything. he had his recheck a week after, and i mentioned the grinding, the vet said everything looked like it was healing well so i thought he'd probably stop soon.

now it's been over a month as i said, and he's still grinding his teeth quite a bit after he eats. otherwise he's fine, and it seems to be more irritating than painful for him.

olivia (other cat) was recently treated for a really bad rodent ulcer (2 weeks ago) and prior to her treatment she had been grinding in a similar manner to hector. could it be the same thing? wouldn't they have seen that when they did the dental? is there anything else it could be? if it is a rodent ulcer, i know that one of the main causes is an allergy, but i had some trouble researching things that cats can be allergic to. we changed the litter and got new dishes. is there anything else we can try?

we want to take hector in again but they said they'd have to charge us since it's been over a month since his dental and after spending $700 on his dental and $500 on olivia's surgery, we're pretty much tapped out so i'd rather exhaust all other possibilities before taking him in again.

sorry this is so long, and thanks for any help!

i should add that i AM taking him to the vet, but couldn't get an appointment until next thursday. if there's anything i can do to help him now, or things i should look for to start ruling things out so that they don't run a zillion expensive tests...it'd be really very much appreciated.

Just a gut thought here, but I might think about having the vet check his serum potassium levels ... even if it is found to be low-normal, he might need supplementation.

thanks! i'll ask them about that.

anyone else???

My cat does this... She is only a year old and she has done it for quite some time. Her next checkup we will bring it up. I would think at a year-old she would hardly need a dental as of yet. I'm baffled. I've never seen a cat do it. I kind of wonder if its a habit vs. a problem. I just don't know.