Dental Cleaning?

[chatterbox]

Originally Posted by Sunny's Daddy

Have there ever been any complications? Like animal's dying on the table and what not? If there aren't any IV fluids hooked up to them what do they do if there blood pressure starts to fall to much? Wake them back up maybe? Thanks for the info!

When they're just gassed down, you take off the gas, and they pretty much come right out of it within a minute. Normally when you notice the pressure changing you change the level of anesthesia that they get before it gets bad. Personally, I have never seen a pet die from a dental cleaning. To help alleviate your fears, I'd definitely recommend some pre-anesthetic bloodwork, to make sure all your baby's organs are functioning properly and able to handle the anesthesia.

 

[natalie_ca]

My oldest girl, Chynna just turned 16 years old. In April she had her first dental as a result of a badly infected tooth.

Because of her advanced age she had to go in the day before for 24 hours of hydration.

Part of the protocol required me to give her antibiotics for 5 days before the procedure and 4 days after.

The only blood work she needed at that time was another kidney function test. I had a complete blood workup done on her about 5 weeks earlier. It's always advisable to have blood tests before surgery.

During the procedure they did dental scaling to remove plaque buildup, and they removed the tooth which was obviously infected and did xrays for each tooth they felt may be an issue, and only pulled it if they needed to.

At the end of the procedure she was left with all of her front little teeth, 1 front incisor, and a few small ones at the back. Other than that she's essentially toothless.

Because of her age and the number of teeth she had pulled, they kept her over night for more hydration, pain control and antibiotics.

I have a hard time giving her pills, so I asked for injectable pain and antibiotic medications, which they were more than willing to supply to me and even showed me how to give the injections to her. So I have her 2 injections twice a day for 4 days.

A month later I took her back for a follow up. The stitches were the dissolving kind. The vet said that her gums were looking nice and healthy.

I can't say the procedure was cheap, because it sure wasn't. The total vet bill was around $1,200.00 but they capped it at $700 due to "special circumstances"

A routine cleaning is not as involved as what Chynna had to undergo, but I had never had her teeth cleaned before and they were awful

If your kitty is only 5 or 6, chances are most of his teeth are probably still good.

But I would insist on xrays to avoid having teeth pulled out that don't need to be pulled. They probably don't do xrays in order to keep the costs down, but IMHO I learned that the xrays are important. Without them Chynna would be completely toothless because according to the vet due to the way a cat's tooth is constructed, you often can't tell from the outside if there is a problem. And if there is one bad tooth, there are most often more.

Good luck to you and your baby for his dental cleaning

 

[sunny's daddy]

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

My oldest girl, Chynna just turned 16 years old. In April she had her first dental as a result of a badly infected tooth.

Because of her advanced age she had to go in the day before for 24 hours of hydration.

Part of the protocol required me to give her antibiotics for 5 days before the procedure and 4 days after.

The only blood work she needed at that time was another kidney function test. I had a complete blood workup done on her about 5 weeks earlier. It's always advisable to have blood tests before surgery.

During the procedure they did dental scaling to remove plaque buildup, and they removed the tooth which was obviously infected and did xrays for each tooth they felt may be an issue, and only pulled it if they needed to.

At the end of the procedure she was left with all of her front little teeth, 1 front incisor, and a few small ones at the back. Other than that she's essentially toothless.

Because of her age and the number of teeth she had pulled, they kept her over night for more hydration, pain control and antibiotics.

I have a hard time giving her pills, so I asked for injectable pain and antibiotic medications, which they were more than willing to supply to me and even showed me how to give the injections to her. So I have her 2 injections twice a day for 4 days.

A month later I took her back for a follow up. The stitches were the dissolving kind. The vet said that her gums were looking nice and healthy.

I can't say the procedure was cheap, because it sure wasn't. The total vet bill was around $1,200.00 but they capped it at $700 due to "special circumstances"

A routine cleaning is not as involved as what Chynna had to undergo, but I had never had her teeth cleaned before and they were awful

If your kitty is only 5 or 6, chances are most of his teeth are probably still good.

But I would insist on xrays to avoid having teeth pulled out that don't need to be pulled. They probably don't do xrays in order to keep the costs down, but IMHO I learned that the xrays are important. Without them Chynna would be completely toothless because according to the vet due to the way a cat's tooth is constructed, you often can't tell from the outside if there is a problem. And if there is one bad tooth, there are most often more.

Good luck to you and your baby for his dental cleaning

I'm not sure if he has the capability to do x-rays. I know he does regular x-rays if they need but I think that to do the teeth they might need a special x-ray machine. When I asked him about it he said something along basically that he didn't need to do xrays and that it could get expensive. But I don't know if that meant he can't do it because he doesn't have the machine or he was telling me that I didn't have to do it to save money. If thats the case I rather just do it if he can how much more can it be. I really don't care how much it is as long as I can rest assured and I'm not rich by any means.

 

[blaise]

Sunny's Daddy-
It seems to me that some of the information posted is very telling about the differences in Veterinary care from one clinic to another. For me, it re-affirms the need for us to become as knowledgeable as possible beforehand - from reliable, professional sources - and then to be able to have full and open discussions with our Vets about what needs to be done and how it will be carried out.

I do hope you will insist on those other procedures.

There is a set of videos made by a Veterinarian which show very clearly how these procedures should be carried. I'm sure you'll notice the use of IV fluids and the port - and the very special attention paid to monitoring the cat - even though the time spent under anasthesia may be short.

You'll find them here.

From this thread, I've also learned the importance of asking beforehand who exactly will be performing those procedures.

Here are some other links which also confirm the need for "proper procedures".
Veterinary Partner
The Australian Veterinary Dental Society (see Procedures and Perioperative care at the bottom)

 

[sunny's daddy]

Originally Posted by BLAISE

Sunny's Daddy-
It seems to me that some of the information posted is very telling about the differences in Veterinary care from one clinic to another. For me, it re-affirms the need for us to become as knowledgeable as possible beforehand - from reliable, professional sources - and then to be able to have full and open discussions with our Vets about what needs to be done and how it will be carried out.

I do hope you will insist on those other procedures.

There is a set of videos made by a Veterinarian which show very clearly how these procedures should be carried. I'm sure you'll notice the use of IV fluids and the port - and the very special attention paid to monitoring the cat - even though the time spent under anasthesia may be short.

You'll find them here.

From this thread, I've also learned the importance of asking beforehand who exactly will be performing those procedures.

Here are some other links which also confirm the need for "proper procedures".
Veterinary Partner
The Australian Veterinary Dental Society (see Procedures and Perioperative care at the bottom)

Wow these are some great links you've found here! Thanks there is so much info on all types of dental hygiene and detection of problems and procedures! I wish this Dr. McDonald from the expertvillage.com link was around here I would definitely go to him, he definitely seems like he knows his stuff. Your definitely right about asking who will be performing. I already asked and my vet said he does the entire procedure himself. Unfortunately when it comes to animals everything is a lot more lax then if it were a procedure being performed on a human. I would feel more comfortable if I were going in for a procedure then Sunny. I know if I go I have an anesthesiologist monitoring me, at some vet's office it might be some stupid kid vet tech who really doesn't know a thing so you really have to watch. Thanks again for the links!!!