Dental Examination and Treatment

General Information

Just like people, pets need regular, professional dental care to maintain healthy teeth and gums.  Without the aid of daily brushing, plaque quickly accumulates on teeth and gums..  Plaque forms naturally.  It is a colorless film that contains bacteria, proteins, minerals and water.  After mixing with food particles and minerals in saliva, some of the plaque will harden as it dries.  The hard deposit is called tartar.  Left untreated, plaque and tartar accumulation may lead to mouth odor, pain, infection, and tooth loss.  All pets are at risk for developing these kinds of dental problems.  A comprehensive program of professional cleaning and home care can help prevent irreversible periodontal disease.

Scheduling a Dental Examination and Treatment

Dental procedures are scheduled on weekdays.  Pre-medicating with an oral antibiotic to reduce the mouth bacterial contents is completed in the five (5) days prior to the dental appointment.  Admission to the hospital is between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m.  Please allow 10-15 minutes for admitting.  We will obtain phone number(s) to contact you during the procedure if we find items that you need to know about.  Your pet must not have food after bedtime the night before the procedure; water in reasonable amounts is allowed.

Preanesthesia Blood Work

The health and safety of your pet is our foremost concern.  Because your pet cannot describe symptoms to let us know if something might be wrong, we require blood testing.  By testing blood, we can evaluate your pet’s major organ systems.  These tests can alert the doctor to preexisting conditions that could complicate the procedure, such as dehydration, anemia, diabetes, liver and/or kidney disease.  The testing is performed at the hospital within 3 weeks of the procedure – even that morning, if needed.

 The Procedure

Your pet's dental procedure includes:

1. Admission to the hospital for the day
2. A brief but complete physical examination by the doctor
3. Pre-anesthetic blood drawing, laboratory analysis, and interpretation by the doctor
4. Formulation of an appropriate pre-anesthesia medication plan and dosages, anesthetic protocol, and follow-up medications (when indicated)
5. Administration of pre-anesthetic medications
6. Induction of anesthesia
7. Endotracheal intubation and maintenance of anesthesia
8. Anesthesia monitoring (blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, and ECG)
9. Manual scaling of calculus
10. Periodontal probing and charting
11. Ultrasonic scaling
12. Root scaling
13. Special problem identification, diagnosis, and treatment (including fractures, abscesses, cavities, FORLs, retained roots, etc.)
14. Tooth polishing (and application of fluoride gel in cats)
15. Anesthesia recovery monitoring and extubation
16. Post-anesthesia monitoring until discharge