It is understandable that, as a pet owner, the thought of putting your pet under anesthesia can be scary. When a dental procedure is performed, the purpose is to identify and treat oral disease. The calculus (tartar) on the surface of the teeth, although unsightly, causes limited harm for most pets. The health problems and pain associated with most dental diseases in patients come from problems located below the gumline.
Non-anesthetic dental procedures allow for cleaning of the calculus from the surface of the teeth, only. Without anesthesia, it is impossible to identify problems below the gumline, let alone treat them. While non-anesthetic dental cleaning makes the surface of the teeth look better, it does nothing to treat the health problems caused by dental disease. In fact, non-anesthetic dental cleaning gives the pet owner a false sense of security that they are improving their pet’s oral health, while allowing the true dental disease below the gumline to continue getting worse. This is similar to taking a car with an engine problem to a car wash, rather than a mechanic. After the car wash, it looks nice, but doesn’t work any better. In addition, non-anesthetic dental cleaning can be very stressful for pets. Think of how most pets react when their owners try to brush their teeth, and magnify that by many times. If an attempt is made to clean diseased areas while awake, it can also result in pain for the pet.
General anesthesia during a dental procedure allows for appropriate exam, probing, and imaging of all teeth. Dental imaging, such as dental x-rays and Cone-Beam CT, are invaluable diagnostic tools when it comes to dental health. More than half of dental problems in veterinary patients are present below the gumline, which cannot be seen without imaging. It is impossible to obtain adequate intra-oral images if the patient is not under anesthesia. Without proper imaging, many harmful dental problems can go undiagnosed. Treatment of dental problems, including deep cleaning, extractions, and other treatments cannot be performed on awake pets.
Non-anesthetic dental cleaning procedures take advantage of a pet owner’s fear of anesthesia, and make the owner feel that they are providing health care for their pets. In reality, many of these procedures are doing more harm than good, and are ignoring the real dental problems that exist, allowing them to get progressively worse. It is more important to focus on anesthetic safety and precautions, in order to provide appropriate diagnosis and treatment of dental diseases.