Dental health is important to the general health and comfort of your pet. Bacteria in the mouth contribute to the buildup of plaque and dental tartar, and can eventually cause gum loss and bone loss around the teeth. This can lead to bad breath, oral pain, tooth abscesses, a decreased appetite, tooth loss, and rarely jaw fracture.

A dental cleaning is an anesthetic procedure that allows us to fully address your pet’s oral health, including cleaning and extractions, if needed. To allow us to evaluate the entire tooth, we take full-mouth radiographs to visualize the tooth roots. We examine the tooth crowns and probe for any pockets in the gums/gingiva. We scale the dental tartar off the teeth and polish them. If any extractions are recommended, we will call you to discuss this. While we can complete most extractions and procedures here at DAH, if there is a particularly unusual finding, we may refer you to a board-certified veterinary dentist.

Before we schedule the Dental

Ideally your pet should have had a physical exam within the last 6 months prior to scheduling a dental cleaning. This helps us plan for the procedure and assess their overall health. Within 45 days of the procedure, we will run bloodwork to help ensure that they are healthy and metabolically stable for anesthesia. If your dog has a heart murmur, an ultrasound of the heart (echocardiogram) should have been done within 6 months of the dental, or ideally even closer to the time of anesthesia.

Premedications

Dogs will be sent home with Cerenia, an anti-nausea medication, to be given the night before anesthesia. This will allow them to recover more smoothly and eat sooner after their dental. If your pet refuses to take oral medications, please let us know and we can discuss an injectable alternative.
If your pet is on daily medications, please ask a doctor or technician if your pet should receive these medications the morning of the dental.

The day of the surgical procedure

  1. Do not give food the morning of anesthesia, unless specifically directed to do so.
  2. Drop off and check-in for surgeries is between 8-9am. A more specific time may have been arranged when scheduling your pet’s procedure. A surgical assistant or licensed veterinary technician (LVT) will go over the procedure estimate with you and answer questions.
  3. A doctor will examine your pet, and an IV catheter is placed so we can start IV fluids to help maintain blood pressure and organ function during anesthesia.
  4. Anesthesia is induced with an IV injection. An endotracheal tube is placed to protect their airway and provide a gas anesthetic and oxygen.
  5. A surgical assistant or LVT will be specifically assigned to monitor your pet’s vitals, including pulse, respiration rate, blood pressure, pulse oximeter (blood oxygenation), ECG, temperature, and fluid administration.
  6. Full mouth radiographs are taken of all teeth to fully evaluate the tooth roots. This allows us to look for fractures, abscesses, tooth resorption, retained roots/teeth, and other problems that are impossible to see by just looking at the crown of the tooth.
  7. An ultrasonic scaler is used both above and below the gum line to remove all dental tartar, and then the crown is polished.
  8. Sometimes a local antibiotic therapy (Doxirobe) will be recommended if there are pockets in the gingiva or if there is early bone loss along the tooth roots.
  9. If extractions are recommended, we will discuss this with you before proceeding, unless you have already authorized this. Reasons for extraction can include tooth fracture, tooth abscess, bone loss in the jaw along the tooth root, and tooth resorption.
  10. A local block (lidocaine) is used near the site of extraction to provide additional pain relief.
  11. Once the full dental is finished, your pet will recover from anesthesia and be monitored closely until the endotracheal tube is removed.

After your pet recovers from anesthesia and any extraction sites are healed, we recommend brushing your pet’s teeth regularly. If your pet does not allow you to brush, dental chews may be a good alternative. Please discuss with your veterinarian which dental products may be ideal for your pet.