Problems with Dental Cleaning in Pets

It's important to integrate dental cleaning into your pet care routine. According to Pet Care Tips, practice at-home dental hygiene regularly, such as brushing your dog or cat's teeth. The vet also checks your pet's teeth during routine visits. The vet, however, may recommend a more thorough teeth cleaning. Knowing what problems may arise, and how to prevent them, helps you to avoid future concerns with your pet's dental cleaning routine.

  1. Infection From Oral Bacteria

    • If a pet with a minor dental infection and tartar gets its teeth cleaned, a vet isn't likely to worry about a cleaning exacerbating the infection. Often, a vet prescribes antibiotics for a pet with serious dental disease before its teeth are cleaned in order to prevent bacteria from entering the bloodstream. Many pet owners are concerned about giving antibiotics unnecessarily; discuss the possible complications with your vet before the dental cleaning.

    Complications From Anesthesia

    • In order to properly clean your pet's teeth, your vet is likely to use anesthetics. Although anesthetic administration is considered a safe veterinary procedure, complications may arise in elderly animals, animals with low blood pressure and animals sensitive to anesthetics. If you're concerned, have your vet perform pre-anesthetic blood work.

    Post-Operative Care

    • If your pet requires surgery to fix a periodontal problem or extract a tooth, it may need to stay in the hospital for a day or two. If the vet's post-operative care recommendations are not taken seriously, such as feeding your pet softer food and giving antibiotics, infections may arise. According to Pet Place, rare complications from tooth procedures include excessive bleeding, tooth root, fracturing and damage to healthy teeth.

    Stress in Pets

    • A common worry for pet owners is the possible trauma pets experience during a teeth cleaning. Check with your vet to see how she approaches such procedures. It is common for vets to administer drugs such as ketamine for muscle relaxation, and diazepam for calmness and stress-free recovery. It is important you feel comfortable with your vet, and confident that your vet treats your pet with respect.