How Painful Is Teeth Cleaning for Dogs?

“Your pet needs a dental checkup.” Most owners dread this phrase, thinking it’s just code for yet another expensive and unnecessary procedure.

In reality, dental care is anything but unnecessary. However, dental disease can be extremely painful. If left unchecked, it can cause serious problems for the heart, kidneys, and other organs. Some of these health conditions are irreversible and very expensive to treat—much more expensive than dental care.

Steps to a Veterinary Dental Care Appointment

A “dental” is not a simple teeth cleaning, but a true comprehensive oral exam and radiographic evaluation. Depending on what the veterinarian finds under the gums, a dental checkup may just be a cleaning, or it may mean removing a damaged tooth.

Step One in Veterinary Dentistry: Pre-Exam

There are multiple steps to getting a “dental.” The first step is a pre-anesthetic blood test and physical exam. This allows the veterinarian to assess your pet’s suitability for anesthesia and tailor an anesthesia plan for your pet. This helps reduce the chances of anesthesia complications.

Step Two: Keep Your Pet Safe Throughout the Procedure

The next step is to insert an IV line into your pet. This allows us to administer fluids during the procedure. Fluids are vital during these procedures because they allow your pet to maintain blood pressure and clear harmful buildup in the kidneys. The IV line also allows us to quickly and effectively infuse life-saving medications if needed. Most patients are induced with parenteral medications and maintained with gas anesthesia.

Step three: Check Below the Gum Line

Once your pet is well anesthetized, we perform an oral exam, including radiography. Your pet's mouth may appear completely normal on the surface, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Radiography allows your veterinarian to look for abnormalities below the gum line, such as root abscesses, resorption, root remnants, cysts, and even fractures, to name a few.

Step four: Check Above the Gum Line

Next, we evaluate the crowns (the visible part of the tooth) and the gums themselves. Dental probes and probes are used to note any depressions in the gums (where infection may be hiding) or to locate exposed pulp (which is very painful).

Many Dogs and Cats Only Need a Dental Cleaning

If the exam reveals no or few problems below the gums, your veterinarian will proceed with the cleaning. This is very similar to the type of cleaning humans receive at the dentist, removing tartar and plaque.

Care After Your Pet's Dental Exam

Once your pet wakes up from anesthesia, your veterinarian will develop a post-operative plan. In most cases, you can take your pet home the same day. If your cat or dog has a routine dental cleaning, this may mean not stirring for a few days while it recovers from anesthesia. If your pet has an infection and needs a tooth extracted, its post-operative plan may include antibiotics and pain medication.

Establish an annual dental care routine

It’s surprising how many people notice a change in their pet’s energy and attitude after dental work. That’s because oral disease can be painful and stressful on the body. Dental exams should be considered a core part of your pet’s health (comprehensive oral exam and radiographic evaluation), and you should consider scheduling cleanings every six months to a year.