Putting Your Mind at Ease about Anesthesia

One predominant concern many clients have with a prophylaxis procedure is the use of anesthesia.  It is true that sedation and anesthesia pose certain risks and possible complications.  For example, anesthesia may aggravate geriatric concerns in elderly patients, such as heart disease, renal insufficiency, or liver problems.  In all cases, not just the geriatric, it is in your and your pet’s best interest to have preoperative screenings done before anesthesia is administered.  Preoperative screening allows us to acknowledge and address possible implications through the use of blood work, a thorough physical examination, and a detailed medical history.  If these screenings show no signs of abnormality, the dental procedure can begin.

But the cautious care of your pet does not stop there.  Patients under sedation are constantly monitored during the procedure.  Two technicians are present during the operation: one to conduct the procedure and one to monitor your pet.  The monitoring technician observes your pet’s heart rate, respiration, temperature, and over anesthesia level through the duration of the procedure.  This way, your pet can be monitored safely and supportive care can be administered if needed.

For those clients skeptical of sedation and anesthesia, some local groomers offer sedation- or anesthesia-free teeth scraping.  This might seem the better and safer option, but it is not.  Some very well-behaved canine patients may allow a teeth scraping without sedation or anesthesia, but the vast majority are resistant to oral examination.  Groomers who offer this procedure pledge to “swaddle the dogs in blankets to keep them calm.” However, removing plaque and calculus is easiest and safest when done on a motionless, non-struggling, sedated patient.  Tools called scalers and scaling forceps are used to remove plaque and calculus, and even when a dog is wrapped in “swaddling blankets” and gently restrained, it has the potential to jerk or fight, which could possibly cause the one conducting the procedure to impale the animal in the gums or roof of the mouth with the aforementioned tools.  Scaling the teeth leaves micro-etchings, or “grooves,” on the surface of each tooth that actually increase tartar accumulation.  Polishing the teeth after scaling is the only way to eliminate the miniscule grooves and is virtually impossible to do on a non-sedated patient.  Also, a truly complete oral examination can be performed only under anesthesia.  This includes a thorough examination of the lips, gums, teeth, and tongue, as well as an evaluation of missing teeth, tooth fractures, gingival hyperplasia, gingival bleeding, and oral tumors.  Such a profoundly detailed exam is just not possible on a non-sedated patient.

We understand anesthesia is worrisome for clients and their beloved feline and canine counterparts, but the risks involved with anesthesia are easily avoided through appropriate and supportive care.  The evident pros of a dental cleaning under anesthesia far outweigh the potential cons.