Dentistry

When your pet arrives at the hospital on the day of his or her dental prophy, they will be examined by one of our doctors to make sure they are healthy enough to undergo the anesthetic and procedure planned for the day. Once the doctor completes a full physical exam, the recommended pre-anesthetic blood work will be drawn by one of the Registered Veterinary Technicians (RVT's). Your pet will also receive an anti-nausea injection that lasts for 24 hours to help with the effects of the other medications being administered throughout the day.

After the bloodwork is evaluated and the doctor determines the values are acceptable, we can go ahead with the procedure. One of the RVTs will place an intravenous (IV) catheter and your pet is started on IV fluids. Then sedation is given and your pet will be prepped for anesthesia. Throughout the entire procedure an RVT will be observing your pet’s vital signs and will be utilizing multiple monitoring machines as well.

At Allandale, we have a digital dental radiograph machine. Intraoral radiographs are a very important part of a dentistry procedure because they can show the doctor aspects of your pet's periodontal disease that cannot be seen by just an oral examination. Dental issues that can only be seen below the gum line with radiographs would include feline resorptive lesions, root fractures, and periodontal pockets. After the RVT finishes taking all recommended intraoral radiographs, the doctor will examine them and make notes of areas of concern. From there, once all of the problems identified are resolved, for example, tooth extractions, the RVT will then do a complete dental prophy which includes scaling the teeth with an ultrasonic scaler. This removes all plaque and calculus buildup. After the scaling, they will finish off with polishing all of the teeth to smooth out any micro abrasions on the teeth, to help prevent the build up of plaque in the future. Once everything is done, your pet will placed in recovery and monitored closely by an RVT until they are awake, comfortable, and warm. They will then be placed back in their "house" to fully recover from the anesthetic until they go home later that afternoon/evening.