Daisy, a dental nightmare!.jpg)
Daisy, a 14 year old, Poodle mix, was in the treatment room for her yearly check up and vaccinations. The owner mentioned that Daisy had a really unpleasant smell around her and had started to eat less. She was still playful and loved to go for a walk, but this summer had struggled a bit more with the normal walk around the compound. On one occasion she had just simply refused to go further and her owner was obliged to lift her up and carry her home.
It is in itself not abnormal for older dogs to be a bit slower and they often need less far walking but sometimes there is a medical background for this lack of energy. This was the case for Daisy as well. Upon examination her teeth were in a poor condition, there was a lot of tartar build up, retraction of the gums and hence showing of the roots, some tooth were already loose in their pockets and some even had pus along the roots showing and most of the gums were red and bleeding easily. Upon further examination her tongue was not as pink as might be expected but was slightly bluish.
Her heart rate was within normal limits but on the left side a large murmur could be heard on the heart valves and on the right side a similar but less loud sound was noticed. The bad breath could be explained by the poor condition of the teeth but also anal glands inflammation can cause the animal to smell badly (due to licking of the anal area), this was checked but both anal glands were normal in appearance and not overfilled or irritated.
The owner explained that previous veterinarians had advised her to not take action on the teeth due to the high risk of the anaesthesia at Daisy’s age. We explained the owner that the risk in older dogs is indeed higher and surely in dogs with already signs of problems with the heart, however not doing anything about the teeth would only intensify her problems and already she was starting to eat less. The inflammation and the wobbly teeth must have caused her pain and reduce her quality of life. The continuous inflammation was a risk in itself for her health since multiple scientific publications have connected dental decay and large organ failure, as also is proven in human health. Liver, kidneys and heart are frequently caused to fail due to inflammatory processes ongoing in the oral cavity.
Daisy’s owner decided to go a-head, we started her on an antibiotic course to control the inflammation and planned the procedure one week later. After due precautions were taken to secure her safety during anaesthesia (pre-surgical blood testing, Ultra-sound of the heart, intra venous fluids, continuous monitoring, use of safe anaesthetic medication which could easily be reversed, and safe anaesthetic techniques) Daisy’s teeth were cleaned, X-rays were taken to inform us on the condition of the roots and all molars and teeth of questionable health were extracted.
Her left over teeth and molars were polished and Daisy was brought to the recovery place while continuously being monitored by our nursing staff. The owner was called to inform her on the procedure and Daisy’s condition during the procedure and recovery. Daisy was discharged home the same evening and her antibiotics were continued for 5 more days. Pain medication was given to help
her recover quicker and an appointment for follow up in a week’s time was made.
Today, 3 months later, I saw Daisy back again, her owner was very happy with the progress Daisy had made, she did not smell bad anymore and she slowly started to be a bit more active like before. Her heart murmur was still there and will most likely never go away, but the progress of the deterioration seemed to have been slowed down or halted altogether.We are not always as fortunate with older dogs during this advanced stage of dental decay and anaesthesia in order to improve the situation. This is why, we will on every visit to our clinic check the dental condition of your pet and advise you on the situation and the steps to be taken in order to halt the process or to prevent dental decay.
Dental decay can be prevented!