Guest OPointyDog Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Our six-year-old male, Mika, has had terrible problems with his teeth since we adopted him two years ago. The main problem is along the gumline - constant pockets of infections and terrible horizontal bone loss. His roots are all exposed - especially on his large molars, where there is so much bone loss that you can see through the double root on the teeth. He's lost one tooth recently when it snapped off when he was chewing. (He had emergency surgery to remove the roots - and ended up with rhabdomyolysis, but that's another story...) We've done dentals every 6 months, and tried gels, brushing, etc. Brushing is particularly hard because it is painful for him and leads to extensive bleeding. Our vet is recommending removing all his teeth. Has anyone had this done due to advanced dental disease? Our adoption group's president had this done to her hound, and said it really improved the dog's quality of life. I'm worried both about the procedure but also about what his life will be like afterwards with no teeth. His main love in life is chewing - I'm hesitant to take that away from him. Though I'm also worried about the pain that he's experiencing and also the long-term impact of those infections on his health. Any experiences to share? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbhounds Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Extract them--he will feel so much better getting rid of all that bacteria and infection. If the teeth are really diseased the extractions should be pretty straight forward. He'll do just fine without those teeth--in fact you may even see a wonderful attitude improvement-these guys are so stoic they just deal with things like chronic dental disease. I wish I could tell you how many people say a few months post dental/extractions that they had wished they didn't take so long to do the procedure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogangles Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Yesterday I posted the issue we are having with my 14 year old girl who had dental surgery about five months ago and the issues with her mouth post surgery and the trouble she is having with her jaw still being so sore. This was her third dental to remove the 8 remaining teeth and perhaps if she had the teeth removed much sooner it would have been easier. It was delayed because, for a long time, I was told not to put a 14 year old under for the procedure. However, the point is her teeth were never going to get better and did become a much more serious issue with infection in her mouth which could have affected other parts of her body. There was no other choice but to go ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moofie Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) An old GTmember Neroamber had all her greyhound's teeth extracted, he was more comfortable after but had permanent ETS which made him look very cute http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/261892-hounds-with-no-teeth/ http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-chat/158633-neros-dental.html Edited March 9, 2015 by moofie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeidisMum Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 My friend's girl lost almost all her teeth due to dental disease when she was adopted at 10 years old. She kept her canines and a few of the very tiny front teeth. It was the best choice for her. She still eats dry food (small bite) because they don't really chew it anyway. At almost 14 years old she is still enjoying cookies and other treats as long as they are broken up into small pieces. She gets ETS often, but, like moofie said, it is really cute. Drinking is messy and eating can be as well, but that's nothing that a strategically placed towel won't fix. Quote Christine- Mum to Betty (Nitro Ugly Betty), Hannah (Rj Have I Told U) and missing Heidi (Sendahl Eve) 04/21/2005-06/19/2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest OPointyDog Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Thanks everyone and particularly for those links to the previous threads - that was really helpful. Pain management is going to be tricky because he has major freak-outs on opiate painkillers. He gets very agitated and starts crying and frantically searching through the house. I wonder if gabapenten works on mouth pain. NSAIDS seem to work OK for him. We've talked with the vet a bit about whether to take the teeth all out at once or to stage them out in two different extractions a few months apart. I worry about him being on the table so long and also with all the bleeding/bruising. I think we're conflicted about which way to go. It also sounds like the canines are particularly difficult to extract. The x-rays show that his teeth are more-or-less sound -- the issue seems to be primarily with the soft tissues and infections in his mouth that come from the bacteria on his teeth. So I'm guessing we'll have to take them all. Should I try to find a dog dentist? Our vet is very good, but I'm not sure how often he's had to do something like this. I'm guessing Amicar is necessary, starting ahead of time? And an antibiotic? To make things more complicated, he also has bowel disease, so doesn't tolerate antibiotics very well. Two years ago he ended up with diarrhea after an antibiotic that lasted for two months. We now use convenia and it works beautifully - really expensive but totally worth it. Hopefully convenia will work for something like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeylasMom Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) Gabapentin does help with oral pain. My vet didn't prescribe it for Zuri, but the veterinary dentist did for Violet. On that note, I would at least do a consult with a veterinary dentist. Will cost you an arm and a leg to have them do that many extractions, but I think it's worth it, and at least you know this is the last time you'll pay for dental care if you do it. No advice on what to actually do. It does sound ike it might be best, but I can imagine how tough of a decision that would be. Again, I'd do the dentist consult. Even if you have your vet do the surgery, you will have some peace of mind that this is the right course and I imagine they would follow up with your vet to help with pain meds, etc. Edited March 9, 2015 by NeylasMom Quote Jen, CPDT-KA with Zuri, lab in a greyhound suit, Violet, formerly known as Faith, Skye, the permanent puppy, Cisco, resident cat, and my baby girl Neyla, forever in my heart "The great thing about science is that you're free to disagree with it, but you'll be wrong." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbhounds Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) I would have a veterinary dentist perform the dental--typically-they are quicker as they know all the tricks and their staff as well trained ;-) Not to diss gp's but, the specialists are equipped with all the bells and whistles too. Edited March 9, 2015 by tbhounds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MP_the4pack Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 My Diamond ended up losing all but some of her canines. 23 at once. After she healed from that she did great! A noticeable improvement from before her surgery. The dentist put some kind of bone filler in the gaps to help keep the jaw from deteriorating. it worked just great. She never had trouble eating after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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