greenboost
Also 11 teeth? My cat had recently 4 of his fangs...
my dog has fantastic teeth for his age because I brush them every day
Hello! I am pleased to hear of your dedicated brushing! That is the gold standard of home care.
I, and most dental-savvy vets I know, will still recommend getting the pet under anesthesia and having full dental rads/cleaning done because no one can brush their pet’s teeth as perfectly as we can brush our own. And even though we do brush our own teeth twice a day, it’s still recommended we see a dentist twice yearly, isn’t it?
Once upon a time, I had a lil three year old chihuahua patient who came in for a dental cleaning as recommended. The owner was utterly adamant that she was in perfect health and would need no teeth extracted. Of course, after taking radiographs, we discovered that two of her upper molars were diseased with significant bone loss and needed removal. There was no way to tell this on awake exam.
Fun enough, the owner had forbidden us from extracting anything without talking to her on the phone first and ended up not answering our calls during the whole procedure. Legally, our hands were tied. So we cleaned the teeth and sent the pup home with two infected teeth in her mouth. Sometimes I still wonder how much pain she’s hiding because she’s a dog and can’t talk :D
This is all not to scare anybody, just to reinforce the fact that dogs and cats really do need anesthetic dentals, with radiographs, in order to achieve Perfect Dental Health.
tl;dr PSA: Please continue brushing your pets’ teeth, but strongly consider an anesthetic dental procedure with radiographs if your budget allows!
tl;dr 2: Oh, and if your dog has had their dental work already, then ignore my soap box speech and take my congratulations!
