20% off Teeth Cleaning for Pet Dental Health Month!

• Examination by veterinarian
  We want to be sure there are no health problems that could interfere with anesthesia or create needless risk, and the exam gives us an opportunity to answer any questions you may have. If your pet is not feeling well, or has a severe mouth infection, we would like to schedule this examination at least a day or two before the dental work. We want to get any other health problems resolved before administering general anesthesia, and if the mouth is badly infected, may want to start antibiotics a day or two before dental work is scheduled.
  Older pets and those not feeling up to par should have pre anesthesia laboratory work performed to check kidney and liver function and look for other hidden problems. If we find signs of marginal kidney function, which is common in older pets, we will recommend intravenous fluid support before and during anesthesia. We want to be sure there are no health problems that could interfere with anesthesia or create needless risk, and the exam gives us an opportunity to answer any questions you may have. If your pet is not feeling well, or has a severe mouth infection, we would like to schedule this examination at least a day or two before the dental work. We want to get any other health problems resolved before administering general anesthesia, and if the mouth is badly infected, may want to start antibiotics a day or two before dental work is scheduled.
  Older pets and those not feeling up to par should have pre anesthesia laboratory work performed to check kidney and liver function and look for other hidden problems. If we find signs of marginal kidney function, which is common in older pets, we will recommend intravenous fluid support before and during anesthesia.

• Pre Anesthetic injection
  The exact method of anesthesia and drug dosage varies with each pet's size, age, state of health, and even with his personality. We want our patients to be calm and unafraid so that the use of general anesthetic agents can be minimized. Pets should remain peaceful and unworried during their anesthetic recovery but not have a drug hangover the following day. By administering pre-anesthetic drugs intravenously and in tiny quantities we can achieve the desired effects with very little unwanted post-anesthesia sedation.

General anesthesia For dogs, we usually induce anesthesia with an intravenous injection.  After our patient is asleep, we pass a breathing tube down the windpipe and switch over to isoflurane or Sevoflourane, an inhalant anesthetic.

• Maintenance and monitoring
  Conscientious veterinarians have used surgical monitoring devices for many years. Traditional devices monitor pulse or respiration, sometimes both. With gas anesthesia this is not enough, because carbon dioxide levels can rise to life-threatening levels with little warning. Today, progressive practices use a pulse oximeter, which continuously monitors the blood oxygen level. The pulse oximeter sounds an alarm if there is even a small change from normal oxygen levels, allowing the veterinarian to respond before serious problems develop

• Removal of heavy tartar deposits
  Using an ultrasonic scaler, we remove the visible external tartar deposits—that hard brownish material that forms along the gum line.

• Extraction of severely diseased teeth
  At this stage, we carefully examine the teeth. Any teeth diseased past the point of saving are removed. There may be none, or many. Teeth are never extracted when we are in doubt, but if you can wiggle a tooth with your fingers and pus squishes up out of the root socket, it needs to go. At this point everything that will be visible to the owner has been done. Until recent years this was as far as most veterinarians went with dental work.

• Root planeing (smoothing)
  The most important part of having your teeth cleaned is that unpleasant scraping part. Hidden tartar deposits under the gum line push healthy tissue away from the root, giving bacteria a place to live and grow. Removing the tartar helps gums stay healthy

• Polishing
  Teeth cleaning leaves a lot of microscopic scratches and roughness which provide places for tartar to form. Polishing the teeth smoothes this surface, making it more resistant. All this time, you probably thought it was so you'd have a bright shiny smile.