It's a Gas

I blog pretty regularly over at Nancy Campbell RVT's Vet Techs blog, mostly about veterinary drugs, although now and then some other topic in veterinary medicine that I feel strongly about triggers a post.

Nancy, who has special training and certification in veterinary dentistry, has just begun a series on pet dental health, which is a good companion piece to the entry that started this blog out, Of Carnivores, Omnivores, Teeth, and Science. As an adjunct to her series, I blogged a bit about a common and dangerous anesthesia practice, often thought to be a safer alternative: "Masking" or "gassing" the pet down instead of using injectable anesthetic agents before intubating and using gas to maintain anesthesia.

Most of our dogs and cats have dental disease by the age of three. This is primarily because we feed them inappropriate diets, but even if we choose to continue to do so, we can prevent much of this disease (which itself can lead to kidney and heart disease, and possibly even arthritis, in our pets later on) by brushing their teeth daily if we can, and getting professional dental care for them. The necessity of anesthetizing our pets to adequately and correctly clean and polish their teeth makes most of us scared to death to do this often enough, and we frequently put it off, sometimes for years, while their gingivitis progresses to periodontal disease. This condition is not only dangerous, it's hellishly painful.

Making sure you work with trained, competent, and up-to-date veterinary professionals who understand anesthesia should remove nearly all the risk of getting regular dentistries. As Nancy explains so clearly, "cosmetic" cleanings such as those that can be done without anesthesia make the teeth look prettier and make us feel better, but do nothing to reduce the risk of oral disease and can actually make tartar come back more quickly than it would otherwise form.

If you have dogs or cats, no matter what you feed them, take good care of their mouths and find a veterinary practice that does state-of-the-art dentistry and anesthesia. It can add years to your pet's lifespan, and dramatically improve the quality of life of those years, too. If you've ever had a toothache, please think twice before deciding that anesthesia is more risky than just ignoring that stinking mess in your pet's mouth. In competent hands, the opposite is true.

Comments

[KathyF]

Can I second this? I didn't brush my last dog's teeth, and she had to have an average of one pulled a year for the last several years of her life. The last time, when she was 15, we had a couple pulled at once, including a big canine tooth. She bled for days, loads of blood. I swore on her life I'd never do this to another dog, simply because brushing their teeth was a lot of bother.

My current dog loves to have her teeth brushed, because we started when she was a puppy. She sits patiently while I brush mine, and then gets her treat of a thorough brushing.

I swear she smiles afterward.

She has sweet breath, too.

[pasadena]

I have a dog named jane, my pet dog is 3 years old, ever since I didn't bring her to pet dental clinic until lately I found out that my pet's teeth starts to rotten, and it smells bad. So I'll take her to dental clinic and the veterinary told me that my pet had a worst rotten teeth.To late to recover. I will share this to you for those who have pets, give them a proper health and dental care to keep them healthy.

-heather-