At Ampthill Veterinary Centre, we feel passionately about dentistry due to the huge impact dental disease can have on overall health and quality of life (if you’ve ever had toothache, you will know how painful it can be!).
Dental problems in pets often go unnoticed at home, because pets will quite often eat through the pain. It is not uncommon that, after dental treatment, owners comment about how much they notice a change in their pets demeanour that they had previously put down to ‘old age’.
Not only does dental disease cause discomfort or pain, it has also been shown to impact on the other body systems such as kidneys, liver, lungs and heart, as well as medical conditions such as arthritis and diabetes.
We have invested in a range of dental equipment, including dental x-rays, to allow us to offer dental care for a range of dental/oral diseases in-house. For more complex or unusual cases, we have the option to refer to dental specialists.
All dental procedures are performed under anaesthetic. If dental disease is severe enough to warrant tooth extractions, the duration of the procedure can become much more lengthy, which brings greater risk to the patient. This is why we employ a two stage procedure for dentals where more extensive treatment is required and a long anaesthetic is anticipated.
Two Stage Dental Procedures
Simply put, a two-stage dental procedure is where dental treatment is performed over two short anaesthetics instead of one long one. It follows much more closely the protocols followed in human dentistry. Not all pets require extensive dental treatment, and so not all pets will require two stages.
The main benefits of a two-stage dental are:
- Enhanced anaesthetic safety research shows that anaesthetics of longer than 2 hours duration carry a higher risk to the patient
- Reduction of bacterial challenge at extraction sites – plaque is laid down by bacteria, so by removing the plaque and allowing the gums to heal before performing extractions, it reduces the risk of infections and therefore reduces the need for antibiotics (and therefore cost to you)
- Opportunity to perform a full examination of the mouth and provide a more accurate estimate for dental treatment. This means that we won’t put you on the spot by calling while your pet is under anaesthetic and asking for an immediate decision around treatment plans.
What happens during your pets dental?
Stage 1:
- Prior to any dental treatment, you will have an appointment with one of our clinical team to assess your pets teeth and general health before an anaesthetic.
- We will book in a date for the dental procedure to be performed. Prior to the date of the procedure, we will email you information about the procedure. We will then phone you the day before the procedure to answer any questions or concerns you may have. We do this because we know that when you leave a pet at the vets, it can be a stressful experience, so we like to give you chance to read the information in your own time prior to the admission appointment.
- Your pet is admitted for the day and settled in their kennel. We perform a pre-anaesthetic health check, before proceeding to anaesthesia. During the anaesthetic, you pet will be monitored by a qualified nurse, will have electronic patient monitoring and will receive intravenous fluids (a drip) throughout the procedure.
- A full scale and polish, charting and dental x-rays will be taken by either a vet or one of our registered veterinary nurses (a vet will always be on hand to review any dental disease and to supervise the procedure).
- Any urgent treatment will be performed (i.e. extraction of fractured or obviously wobbly teeth)
- Your pet will be woken from anaesthetic, with continuous monitoring. Once awake, they will be offered a meal.
- We will call you to let you know what time your pet will be ready to go home, and arrange with you an appointment 3-5 days after the procedure to perform a check up on your pet.
- We will then look to book stage 2 at a mutually convenient time. *Not all patients will require a stage 2 procedure.
Stage 2
- As with stage 1, we will provide you with the pre-anaesthetic information in advance of the procedure and call you the day before the procedure to discuss any concerns.
- We will admit your pet on the morning of the procedure and the same checks are performed as with stage one.
- We will anaesthetise your pet, again with a registered veterinary nurse monitoring your pet throughout the procedure.
- Local anaesthetic is instilled to keep your pets pain under control after the procedure.
- Dental extractions are performed, and where appropriate, post extraction x-rays taken.
- The gums are sutured to promote optimal healing – these are dissolvable sutures and don’t need to be removed.
- Your pet is woken up from anaesthetic, whilst being constantly monitored during their recovery. When awake they will be offered a small meal.
- We will call you to book a time for your pet to go home, and also to book post-dental check up appointments.
What’s included in the dental fee?
Our dental procedure fees include:
- pre- and post-anaesthetic phone calls to provide you with opportunity to ask any questions or raise any concerns
- anaesthetic and pain relief drugs including medications to go home with
- intravenous fluid therapy (a drip) throughout the anaesthetic – many practices offer this as an optional extra, often at an additional cost, but we believe this to be best practice and so include this as standard
- dental x-rays – many practices offer this as an optional extra, often at an additional cost, but we believe this to be best practice and so include this as standard
- three post operative check up appointments (one after stage one, and two after stage two) to check your pets recovery.
Does the procedure being split into two increase the cost?
No! We charge on predominantly on a time basis, meaning that staging the procedure has minimal impact on the cost of the anaesthetic, because the time taken to scale, polish, chart, x-ray and perform any extractions will take the same time, regardless of whether it is split into one or two procedures. In fact, in some cases, it will reduce the overall cost because the gums are healthier, and healthier tissues are easier to suture properly.
Will my pet definitely need two stages?
No, not all pets require two stages. Where treatment required is minimal and can be completed within approximately 2 hours, we would look to perform all necessary treatment in one procedure. We will discuss your individual pets needs with you.
After the Dental
Home care is essential to make sure your pets oral health is maintained after the procedure. We will guide you as to best home care going forwards.
If you think your pet might benefit from dental care, you can book an appointment with one of our clinical staff to discuss your pets needs.