Teeth Cleaning Without Sedation

[Guest vezzerina]

Hi, I'm looking into groomers in Miami that offer teeth cleaning without sedation. My Lyca has tough mineral deposits around the gumline that I'm concerned about so I wanted to get that taken care of. It seems that it's hard to find a deep teeth cleaning without sedation though. And one of the places I did find asked me if my grey would lie down during the procedure because she only treats dogs that will lie in a submissive position...

 

SO how traumatic is this experience for dogs? Will she come out shaking with bleeding gums?

[RobinM]

I wouldn't waste my money on sedation free unless you are doing this for just asthetic reasons. But in order to clean under the gums which is what they need, they must have sedation.

 

If you have a grey savvy vet, you have nothing to worry about!

 

ETA: This is from Dr. Bill Feeman @ OSU:

 

As appealing as an “anesthetic free” dental may be, it may be a disservice to the patient. A complete oral examination or cleaning simply cannot be done in an awake animal, no matter how cooperative he/she is. Furthermore, the most significant tartar is not what you see grossly on the teeth, but what lies underneath the gingiva (gums). An anesthetic-free dental cleaning accomplishes little more than a cosmetic cleaning (like a teeth whitening procedure in a human) and leaves the most significant tartar and periodontal disease unaddressed. Not only may the cleaning not help the animal but it may fool the owner into believing that their animal’s oral health is being addressed, when in fact it is not. Please consult the following article for the American Veterinary Dental College’s position statement regarding anesthetic free dental cleanings:

Edited December 6, 2009 by RobinM

[Guest Greytluv]

Robin, how can I get the whole article? I'd like to pass it on.

[Guest vezzerina]

Wow! That is quite a surprise! My vet is greyhound savvy (he used to be a vet at a track) so I will check with him. He was also the one that recommended that I get her teeth cleaned. I only just adopted Lyca so I thought her teeth had been cleaned when she was spayed at the rescue center but I guess not enough. She has a lot of build up (in fact, at first I thought she had some kind of tooth rebuilding or something).

 

Yeah, I'd love to read the article, too. Thanks!

[Guest ThunderPaws]

I wouldn't waste my money on sedation free unless you are doing this for just asthetic reasons. But in order to clean under the gums which is what they need, they must have sedation.

I agree. Cleaning without sedation is only good for in-between-cleanings, as well as for dogs with heart disease who are more sensitive to anesthesia, but it does not replace deep cleaning under the gum line.

I also noticed that awake dentals seems to damage the tooth surface more than a thorough cleaning with a good polishing/smoothing of the surface afterwards. If not polished, the dirt seems to stick easier.

 

Greyhound Friends of NC recently took in a 11 1/2 year old stray greyhound who was dumped by his owner. Poor dog's mouth was so rotten that he needed 25 teeth extracted. Their vet is very experienced with greys and did a great job. After a couple days recovery good ole boy is doing greyt (and smells much better)!

 

I used to have awake dentals done for my dogs at my previous (note previous) vet. The dentals seemed to be only good for 6 months before I had to bring the dogs back for another cleaning. Waldo once came home all bruised up around his belly and thighs. When I asked the vet tech about it she laughed and said that he wouldn't hold still so she had to wrestle him down.

Needless to say, he didn't lay a hand on my dogs again!

Edited December 6, 2009 by ThunderPaws

[Guest vezzerina]

OMG what a horrifying story! Good for you for leaving that vet. Poor baby.

 

Yeah, I guess when I first adopted Lyca they told me over and over NO SEDATION under any circumstances.

[Batmom]

We do it for one of my dogs.

 

BUT. BIG BUT HERE. It is not something I advocate much, for the reasons already stated above.

 

My vet would tell you, you can't do it if there's a lot of crud on the teeth, you can't do it if the dog won't hold still, and if you're going to do it, you'd better do just what you'd do if the dog were under.

 

Zema will hold still for serious scaling and polishing. To keep her comfy and unstressed, they usually do only @ 1/3 of her mouth in one session. Sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more, depends on her. We end up doing her whole mouth over 4-6 months. Vet supervises, tech who specializes in dentals does the work. If I see some unbrushable crud starting to occur, we go right in and take care of it. She has basically good teeth and no gum problems. She is 11.5; due to her age and a minor health matter, the vet doesn't want to put her under unless he has to.

[Guest Honeysmom]

We just had that service done once without anesthesia. The experience was fine for all my greys. The hygenist was extremely dog savvy. However, only the outside of the teeth received the cleaning...the lingual side cannot be reached. In my opinion it is good only if your grey cannot receive anesthesia, otherwise I feel it is a waste of money and time and the vet will do a complete and thorough job instead.

[RobinM]

The article for those who asked is at OSU's website www.osu.edu Put in search for greyhound dental. There will be a link.

[PatricksMom]

I asked at some point if its just that they don't tolerate what we put up with, or if the cleaning is much deeper. One of the vets/vet techs (I can't remember who) said a proper cleaning with anesthesia is much, much deeper than what we get, so it's not possible to fully clean under the gum line without it, so you're basically getting cosmetic benefits.

 

The only way I would switch to non-anesthesia cleanings is if the dog's health ruled out doing it with sedation.

[Burpdog]

I said with sedation but I have done my own scaling on a few (before greys I scaled my dogs and never knew what a dental was ). Most of the greys I won't touch because they have ridges and some looseness at the gum line.

[seeh2o]

I did a search for the article, but was a broken link. What I could see of the link, it went to www.avdc.org, but in searching for it there it says the page is under development. If you've seen the article on the internet, it would be great if you would post a link to it here. I'd love to read it and pass it along to my group.

[RobinM]

http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=dental+Scaling+Without+Anesthesia&fr=yfp-t-701&u=www.toothvet.ca/PDFfiles/Anesthesia-free.pdf&w=dental+scaling+scale+scaled+scales+without+anesthesia+anaesthesia&d=LQwoP929T5zz&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=MX2EovMQmvc3Y_Cy.tctjQ--

[seeh2o]

http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=dental+Scaling+Without+Anesthesia&fr=yfp-t-701&u=www.toothvet.ca/PDFfiles/Anesthesia-free.pdf&w=dental+scaling+scale+scaled+scales+without+anesthesia+anaesthesia&d=LQwoP929T5zz&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=MX2EovMQmvc3Y_Cy.tctjQ--

 

Thanks so much!

[Guest kydie]

When my boy came his teeth were unbeleivable, dragon breath from across the room, to the vet, for a good cleaning, 8 months later I had the non sedation cleaning done, just to keep up with it, since I now brush and feed lots of chewies to keep them clean, I will evaluate them to see if they need done again, but sure don't want to go through sedation again, if I don't have to, just to have teeth cleaned, first time in my whole life of dogs I ever had a dog's teeeh cleaned

[greypuppyluv]

Unless I had a dog that couldn't undergo anesthesia for a medical reason (for example, bad heart), I wouldn't do the anesthesia-free cleaning in place of the regular dental.

 

When we had Tinsel put under for a dental, our vet found an ossifying epulis (a growth that can eventually be cancerous) waaaaaay back in her mouth. Dr. Austin said that if she hadn't been under anesthesia, he doubts that it would have been detected. We had it removed and she was fine, but that made a believer out of me. When a dog is under anesthesia, the vet can do a more thorough exam of the mouth than just a cleaning.

[3DogNite]

I take my dogs in once a year for teeth cleaning with sedation.

 

however thru the year i brush their teeth and do periodic scaling if the tarter gets built up.

[MP_the4pack]

I would not put Onyx (age 14) or Pearl (age 12 with severe heart disease and hypertension ) under anesthesia.

 

So Non anesthetic dentals are my only option. And they actually did a very good job. Onyx had an infection under the gum. They were able to clean that out. And it's looking a lot better now....2 months later, that it did before. So they do get under the gum.

[LaFlaca]

Where do you buy scalers for dogs?

[Guest LindsaySF]

I scale my dogs' teeth as well as brushing them. It helps get some of the tartar off, but it is not a replacement for a dental cleaning under anesthesia.

[Guest JenZ]

My 13 1/2 year old Lucy is going in for a dental tomorrow. I am worried sick! I HAD heard of dentals without sedation, but because of Lucy's nervousness I wasn't sure that was the best option for her. She also needs a few teeth removed, and I'm not sure they could do that with a non-sedation cleaning?

 

Jen

[Batmom]

If she needs teeth removed, she does need to be put under. Fingers crossed all goes well!

 

Even tho I'm one of those who has a "dental while awake" pup, I don't think age is an obstacle to a thorough cleaning with anaesthesia. Most pups do just fine.

[Guest vezzerina]

Ok, Lyca is getting her teeth cleaned between 12 and 2 today (eastern time). I put asterixes all over the consent form saying she is a greyhound and to be careful with anesthesia (yes, I am an overprotective greymom). I am trying not to worry but please keep her in your thoughts today...

 

My 13 1/2 year old Lucy is going in for a dental tomorrow. I am worried sick! I HAD heard of dentals without sedation, but because of Lucy's nervousness I wasn't sure that was the best option for her. She also needs a few teeth removed, and I'm not sure they could do that with a non-sedation cleaning?

 

Jen

 

How'd it go?