Anaesthesia Safety
Sydney Pet Dentistry has years of experience treating higher-risk patients such as our elderly patients and those with heart, liver, kidney disease, diabetes or cancer. Whilst no anaesthetic is risk-free, here are some of the ways we improve anaesthetic safety and give you peace of mind that your pet is receiving the very best anaesthetic care.
Anaesthesia Services
Our anaesthesia and pain relief services are built into every anaesthetic and include:
- The anaesthesia and supporting treatments such as fluids
- Nerve blocks
- Multi-modal pain relief (where we use multiple drugs and procedures to achieve the best pain relief possible)
- Anaesthesia of infirm patients
Note: The only optional service is the management of your pet’s anaesthesia by a qualified anaesthetist. Read below for more information.
It Starts With the Basics
Anaesthesia safety can be very simple. An experienced team using safe, proven medications, providing intravenous fluids, pain relief, state of the art monitoring equipment and keeping your pet warm with hot air ‘huggers’ is essential and will always be provided for your pet.
Intensive Care Facilities
We have the security of a referral hospital with 24-hour intensive care facilities and multiple highly qualified intensive care staff if needed.
Keeping Anaesthesia As Short As Possible
The many years of surgical experience in the team means they can operate quickly whilst maintaining the highest surgical standards. This means minimal time under anaesthesia for what could otherwise be a very long procedure, or even a procedure that would otherwise be staged over multiple anaesthetics.
Partnering With Anaesthetists
As an additional service, Sydney pet Dentistry can have a qualified veterinary anaesthetist supervise your pet’s anaesthetic. The veterinary anaesthetist is dedicated solely to the optimal management of your pet’s anaesthetic in order to minimise complications and promote rapid and comfortable recovery. This means that whilst Sydney Pet Dentistry is focused on providing excellent dental care, you can be assured your pet’s anaesthetic is being expertly managed for the best possible outcome.
To do their job, it is vital that the anaesthetist has as much information as possible about your pet’s health. The staff at Sydney Pet Dentistry will contact your local vet(s) and request your pet’s medical history and pass this onto the anaesthetist. There is also a form that we send you that is specifically related to the anaesthesia dentist service. Fill in the form and they will call you if they have any questions about your pet.
On the day, they examine your pet and create an anaesthesia and pain management plan that is tailored to your pet’s specific needs. This plan is implemented and adjusted before, during and after your pet’s dental procedure to maximise safety and comfort.
About Our Anaesthetists
Sydney Animal Pain Clinic
Sydney Animal Pain Clinic is operated by veterinary anaesthetist Dr Donna White. Donna is a veterinarian who has undertaken advanced specialised training in providing expert anaesthesia and pain management for animals. She is also a wealth of knowledge on helping your pet with any other painful condition – chronic pain is just as big a problem in pets as it is in people.
Sydney Veterinary Anaesthesia
Sydney Veterinary Anaesthesia is operated by veterinary anaesthetist Dr Scott Cumming. Scott is a veterinarian who has undertaken advanced training and provides your pet with the safest anaesthesia possible.
How Much Does The Anaesthesia Service Cost?
Booking An Anaesthetist For Your Pet
Pain Relief
Keeping your pet comfortable is extremely important to us – we do our best to minimise pain before and after dental surgery, just as we would with our pets. Pain management is intricately involved with anaesthesia. It is a complex, multi-disciplinary topic, but it comes down to some essential points:
- Accurate diagnosis of your pet’s dental problem
- Offering you a choice in treatments that will be manageable for you and your pet. The most expensive option is not always the best option!
- Proper use of pain relief, anti-inflammatory and other medications before, during, and after surgery
- Minimising pain signals to the brain whilst your pet is having surgery. We use local anaesthetic nerve blocks extensively in the mouth, just like your dentist would. These are helpful even when your pet is under anaesthesia.
- Gentle surgical technique and minimising surgical time. The longer the surgery, the more trauma it causes. Because all we do is dentistry and mouths, we operate very gently and very fast.
Anaesthesia Free Dentistry
Sydney Pet Dentistry does not perform anaesthesia-free dentistry. It is understandable if you have concerns about anaesthesia. Worrying about your pet’s anaesthesia may lead you to Google a whole bunch of alternatives – one of these will be veterinary anaesthesia Sydney-free dentistry.
Our pets are not like us. They don’t sit still in the dental chair and allow us to perform even a simple scale and polish, let alone major dental surgery or extractions. A conscious dental procedure is traumatic for your pet and is cosmetic at best. Just as important, It is impossible to properly examine and treat your pet’s mouth without a full anaesthetic. The tartar that causes gum disease and bone loss can’t be removed entirely in a conscious patient.
If you are genuinely concerned about your pet’s anaesthesia, please speak to us about having general anaesthesia with an anaesthetist monitoring your pet. It is the safest and least traumatic option.
