Teeth Cleaning
My local Vet says my 11 year old Shih Tzu needs her teeth cleaned. Says she has tarter that needs to be removed. Here's my concern my Cookie has a heart murmer plus she is 11 years old and I'm worri...
Forum Discussion
Pawz4me wrote:
It's too late now for brushing to help much. She needs the cleaning and then you need to keep up with brushing. Any pet store should have a variety of toothbrushes and toothpastes for dogs. Do NOT use a human toothpaste.
Anesthesia nowadays is much safer than it used to be. Trust your vet.
Though retired, I still work occasionally. Last week I did a dental on an older poodle same condition but REALLY BAD mouth, heart murmur, mammary tumor and needed to be spayed. This is a lot more than I like to do at once, but for the dog's health it needed to be done.
She did fine, but ended up losing all the rest of her teeth (no real option here).
The anesthetic agents are so much safer than what we had 37 years ago when I graduated from vet school. There is still risk, more than a healthy young dog. Part of our job as vets is to determine if the situation is serious enough to justify the risk.
Doug, DVM
