Whilst pet dental procedures such as cleaning and polishing are generally not uncomfortable (most of us have experienced this at our own dentist), treatment of periodontal disease, extraction of teeth and advanced treatments such as root canal therapy and vital pulpotomy procedures can cause pain for our patients.
All procedures are carried out under a general anaesthetic so your pet is not aware of and cannot feel what is happening. We minimise any postoperative discomfort by using an integrated pain management approach, which includes preoperative pain medication, local anaesthetic nerve blocks (just like human dentists!) and, if required, pain medication to take home after the operation.
The majority of pets will be eating within several hours of recovery. In fact, most of our patients have been in acute or chronic pain prior to seeing us, and rapidly feel much more comfortable once they have received appropriate treatment.
We would love to hear from you about pet dental treatments, you are very welcome to comment below.
