Pull Or Not To Pull?

[Guest GriffinsMom]

Ava has had gingivitis and related gum problems since her arrival 1 1/2 years ago. I brush her teeth every evening using an ultra soft toothbrush and CET toothpaste and I also swab her gums with Nolvadent provided by her vet to keep her gums a healthy as possible.

 

The gums at the front of Ava's mouth are fine but the gums at the back of her mouth bleed bright red. Her last dental was three months ago and her gums seemed to improve for a time but are now back to bleeding. My vet advised that the only way to permanently heal Ava's gums is to pull the last tooth at the very back of her mouth behind the large molars on both the top and bottom of her jaw. 4 teeth total.

 

Does anyone have experience with this issue? Pros...Cons?

 

I don't want to put Ava under general anesthetic if the procedure will not fix her problem.

 

Ava is fed raw but doesn't like to chew so most of her meat is ground, some with bone in, or she won't eat.

 

Thank you,

 

Sharon

Edited September 29, 2008 by GriffinsMom

[ahicks51]

What are you feeding?

[Guest MnMDogs]

Mork also has horrible teeth with regular brushing, and is having his dental today

 

I would pull. His last dental was over a year ago, and he lost 5 teeth, one of which was abscessed. He was pretty sad for a day or 2, but the change in him after that was amazing. It was as if his poor dental health effected his entire body (and it probably did).

 

His gums lately only bleed if I don't brush for a couple days. Other than that, he'll never have good teeth, but he's much better off without the offending bad ones.

[Guest realboo]

Karma has had a tooth problem since we got him at 2.5. He's now 10. Not the same problem, but I can relate. He is allergic to his own plaque and gets ulcers in his mouth. We have been using a dental vet Fraser Hale in Guelph. Originally he had his back 4 molars out as a preventive measure as they were so very difficult to brush properly back there. While losing teeth is no fun, neither are bleeding gums. From what I know about 7 years of dealing with problem teeth, the problems only get worse with time and age. I've also found out that the older a dog gets, the more the tooth adheres to the bone, making it a much more difficult extraction at a later date. You have to look at it as a quality of life issue over the long run.

 

There are a lot of articles on Dr. Hale's site you might want to check out : toothvet.ca

 

By the way...we've been doing a tooth regiment since we got Karma and it was just a loosing battle for him. He had all his teeth removed 2 weeks ago and is doing really well. It was something that was inevitable given his condition and after a great deal of thought, far better to do now than leave a deteriorating condition and be extracting at age 12.

 

Good luck!

 

 

[MP_the4pack]

After what I went thru with Pearl, I'm definitely in favor of pulling. She has heart disease. She developed hypertension. So much so that she became very high risk anesthesia. We couldn't control the high BP and decided to do a CT scan of her adrenals thinking it was adrenal tumors. It wasn't. But at the same time we took advantage of her being under and removed an abscessed tooth (the little one WAY in the back).

 

That abscessed tooth caused kidney disease (glomerulonephritis) which in turned caused her hypertension. And unfortunately it was misdiagnosed as myocitis, so she dealt with this painful tooth for months before we got the right diagnosis.

 

 

[packmom]

After so many years with so many dogs with so many bad teeth I always tell the vet if there are any questionable teeth pull them. No need to call me while the dog is on the table to ask.

[maximum]

Karma has had a tooth problem since we got him at 2.5. He's now 10. Not the same problem, but I can relate. He is allergic to his own plaque and gets ulcers in his mouth. We have been using a dental vet Fraser Hale in Guelph. Originally he had his back 4 molars out as a preventive measure as they were so very difficult to brush properly back there. While losing teeth is no fun, neither are bleeding gums. From what I know about 7 years of dealing with problem teeth, the problems only get worse with time and age. I've also found out that the older a dog gets, the more the tooth adheres to the bone, making it a much more difficult extraction at a later date. You have to look at it as a quality of life issue over the long run.

 

There are a lot of articles on Dr. Hale's site you might want to check out : toothvet.ca

 

By the way...we've been doing a tooth regiment since we got Karma and it was just a loosing battle for him. He had all his teeth removed 2 weeks ago and is doing really well. It was something that was inevitable given his condition and after a great deal of thought, far better to do now than leave a deteriorating condition and be extracting at age 12.

 

Good luck!

 

Max had to have two teeth removed and root canals on two of the big canines when we got him at 4. He is now 10 and a half, and he only has about 13 teeth left - nothing at the back, the four canines, and a rest at the front, a few each side top and bottom. Our dental vet (we go to Fraser Hale as well!) has said that the next time, we might as well pull them all (except for the root canals) - we brush the teeth every day and they are just bad. And since he's getting older, I am more and more reluctant to put him under. He has adapted just fine to living with just a few teeth, I'm sure he will be fine with none.

 

I'm glad to hear that Karma is doing well at pretty much the same age Max will be when he goes through the same thing! Is he having any trouble adapting??

 

And I'll just add a "yay" for Dr. Hale as well - great vet, great guy. the set up is awesome; he only sees one patient at a time - his whole team is paying all their attention to your dog. And you get to go back and sit with your pupper as they wake up (which in Max's case, takes a long time - he is slow to come out of anaesthetic, which is another reason for taking them all next time!)

 

Here's a for Karma - don't worry, it's a soft one!!

[RobinM]

Polli too as pretty bad teeth and gums and I too brush EVERY night with CET and I have the additive for the water. I had 17 of Polli's teeth pulled and she has had 2 dentals in 9 months, but her breath and teeth were discusting even after brushing everyday.

 

I would prob hold off and wait till she has to have the dental, then pull.

 

 

[GreyWrangler]

Pull them.

 

She will heal quickly with the bad gone and be a happier dog. Actually even check to see if that is not aggressive enough. Why do it all again in six months.

 

ETA: Sprite had terrible teeth and repeated infections over many years. Finally at 10 she had all but one upper canine and one next to it to the fronat and one molar. She was a much happer dog once she healed up and the pain, infection and just all around badness in her mouth was gone. She made it to 14 with no other mouth problems.

Edited September 30, 2008 by GreyWrangler

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

I wonder if pain in those teeth is what makes her reluctant to chew her raw? I would probably have them pulled if it were me; especially with everything else you have tried.

[Guest moremoney]

I adopted Rory in May at the age of 10. Since then she has had 2 dentals and all but 7 teeth pulled. She was in pain before and no she is very happy and pain free. I brush her remaining teeth every morning. Good luck with your decision.

[Burpdog]

Did you biopsy the gums?

[SAVED2]

The sooner the better.

[Greytlady94]

My three just had dentals a couple weeks ago. Lucy age 10, had a cavity in one tooth just behind a canine and two of very back molars were quite loose so our vet removed all three teeth. Lucy had no problems at all afterwards, but I did feed her soft food for the first week.

 

Edited to add...I also normally feed raw and I had noticed the previous few weeks that Lucy would start on a turkey neck and then leave it halfway through, which was very unlike her. I had told DH a couple of weeks before the dental that I thought her teeth were bothering her, and that ended up being the problem.

Edited October 2, 2008 by Greytlady94

[Greytlady94]

After so many years with so many dogs with so many bad teeth I always tell the vet if there are any questionable teeth pull them. No need to call me while the dog is on the table to ask.

 

That is what I do also.