You've probably seen it advertised on a flyer, pinned to a pet supply store bulletin board: "Anesthesia-free dental cleanings for dogs and cats." You looked at it with interest, maybe even some excitement. Who doesn’t want to avoid the risks of anesthesia for their pets, especially older or sick pets? After all, we don’t need full anesthesia to get our teeth cleaned, so really, why do our pets? And wouldn't it be nice to get all that nasty tartar off your dog or cat's teeth and have a fresh, clean mouth breathing in your face first thing in the morning again?
If you look into it a little further, what you'll discover is that during "anesthesia-free dental cleaning," tartar is removed from the visible part of your pet's teeth. The teeth are brushed, rinsed, and sometimes the mouth is given a visual examination and the teeth polished to the extent the pet allows. After this cleaning, the mouth looks and, at least for a while, smells a lot better. This service is usually offered in grooming shops, sometimes by the owner or staff of the grooming business and sometimes by an individual who visits the shop on a periodic basis.
Dig a little deeper and you might find out that the person offering the service calls him or herself a "pet dental hygienist" or "pet dental technician." But since there are no recognized licensing, training, certification or registration programs to back them up, those titles are just marketing slogans. Even if the person offering this service is a human dental technician or registered veterinary technician, California law requires that dental operations be performed by or under the direct supervision of a licensed veterinarian. State courts have found that "Without question, the techniques of anesthesia-free teeth cleaning...fall within the definition of dental operation."
Where the procedure is done or by whom or even its legality aren't the most important issues, however. "Periodontal disease is a disease of the teeth that occurs below the gum line”, says Dr. Steven Holmstrom of the Animal Dental Clinic in San Carlos. "The calculus and tartar that 'anesthesia-free' procedures attempt to remove is above the gum line, on the crown of the tooth. It completely misses the plaque and calculus that are doing the damage below the gum line."
Isn't some cleaning better than none at all? Holmstrom says no: "The teeth can visually look great on the crown. This gives a false sense of security, because, meanwhile, the disease is silently progressing below the gum line."
He expressed concern over serious dental and other health issues that can easily be missed when exams -even exams done by veterinarians - are conducted without anesthesia. "All too often we have patients come in that have had repeated, even monthly (anesthesia-free) dental cleanings," he said. "We do a clinical exam, correctly anesthetize the patient and take dental radiographs. I've had many patients where multiple extractions were necessary to treat the advance disease. What might have been easily managed, now was untreatable, except by extractions."
Holmstrom, who is a board-certified specialist in veterinary dentistry, agrees that concerns over the safety of anesthesia are the biggest selling point of these procedures. "The chief reason these 'anesthetic-free cleanings' are popular is the public fear of anesthesia. But over the past two decades, veterinary anesthesia protocols and drugs have improved dramatically. Anesthesia done properly is much less risky than people imagine, and they should be encouraged not to fear it. They should ask questions, naturally, to ensure their pets will receive optimum care, but as we all know, even very elderly and very young patients can be anesthetized safely."
Dental procedures themselves might be considered "life saving." The American Veterinary Medical Associations says that "80 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats show signs of oral disease by age three, often indicated by bad breath, a change in eating or chewing habits, pawing at the face and mouth and depression. Besides causing receding gums and tooth loss, the infection may enter the bloodstream, potentially infecting the heart, liver and kidneys." The AVMA calls oral disease "the most frequently diagnosed health problem for pets."
Though there is always a risk with anesthesia, the best way to minimize the risk is to get truly expert veterinary care for any procedure requiring anesthesia. Anesthesia protocols, for dentistry or any other procedure, should be individualized and state-of-the-art. Your dog or cat must have an IV catheter inserted; this isn't optional. Make sure that there is a trained staff member whose only task during your pet's procedure is monitoring his or her body temperature, heart rate and rhythm, respiratory rate, oxygen levels and other important vital signs. During anesthesia your pet should be kept well hydrated and warm.
While your fear of anesthetizing your dog or cat for a dental cleaning is natural and understandable the solution to that fear isn't to seek out less qualified individuals who tell you what you want to hear, but to work with more qualified practitioners who really know what they're talking about. Remember that the real culprit in dental disease is not the tartar you can see but the bacterial growth you can't see: under the gums, in gingival pockets and in the bone. It's not possible to properly examine a pet's mouth while he or she is awake, let alone actually probe gingival pockets and detect infection in the bone. Scraping off the visible tartar may make the teeth prettier, but it does nothing for the pet's health.
Holmstrom is blunt in his evaluation of the practice, saying, "If this was a legitimate treatment, why is not one of the almost one hundred diplomats of the American Veterinary Dental College (AVDC) offering this service? The answer is simple: It does not work. It is misleading the public and, in fact, may be harmful."
National Dental Health Month is coming in February. During this time, in order to draw attention to the important of oral health in our pets, Diablo View Veterinary Hospital offers a $35.00 discount for a routine dental cleaning (Comprehensive Oral Health Assessment and Treatment).
Note: (Excerpts from article by Christie Keith, contributing editor for Universal Press Syndicate's Pet Connection)
DOG/CAT TEETH CLEANING CLINIC &
ANESTHESIA-FREE DENTAL CLEANING
By Dr. Jim Beebee, DVM
JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 2011, FEBRUARY 2012
