Cat with Gum disease--recommend pulling teeth??

A:I found this on the net.
Good luck

Clarence

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advanced periodontal disease


For practical purposes, teeth like this are too far gone to save. They are loose and painful, and without heroic efforts by owner and periodontist, they will be loose and painful until they fall out or are extracted. We can get a mouth like this comfortable and good smelling again, but only by extracting the worst teeth.
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-Teeth Cleaning
These are the steps involved in cleaning pets' teeth:

Examination by veterinarian
We want to be sure there are no health problems that will interfere with anesthesia or create needless risk and the exam gives us an opportunity to answer any questions you may have. If your pet is not feeling well, or has a severe mouth infection, we would like to schedule this examination at least a day or two before the dental work. We want to get any other health problems resolved before administering general anesthesia, and if the mouth is badly infected, may want to start antibiotics a day or two before dental work is scheduled.

Older pets and those not feeling up to par should have pre anesthesia laboratory work performed to check kidney and liver function and look for other hidden problems. If we discover marginal kidney function, which is common in older pets, we will probably recommend intravenous fluid support before and during anesthesia.

Pre Anesthetic injection
The exact method of anesthesia and drug dosage varies with each pet's size, age, state of health, and even with his personality. We want our patients to be calm and unafraid so that the use of general anesthetic agents can be minimized. Pets should remain peaceful and unworried during their anesthetic recovery but not have a drug hangover the following day. By administering preanesthetic drugs intravenously and in tiny quantities we can achieve the desired effects with very little unwanted post-anesthesia sedation.

General anesthesia
For dogs, we usually induce anesthesia with an injection of Pentothal, the same drug often used for dental work or short surgical procedures in humans. After our patient is asleep, we pass a breathing tube down the windpipe and switch over to isoflurane, a relatively new inhalant anesthetic which is much smoother and safer than what veterinarians used in the past.

Cats are most often anesthetized with a series of injections. First we give xylazine, (a sedative and pain-control drug). After that takes effect we follow it with an intravenous injection containing ketamine, (a muscle relaxant), and diazepam, (a tranquilizer which helps ensure a pleasant and calm recovery).

Maintenance and monitoring
Conscientious veterinarians have used surgical monitoring devices for many years. Traditional devices monitor pulse or respiration, sometimes both. With gas anesthesia this is not enough, because carbon dioxide levels can rise to life-threatening levels with little warning. Today, progressive practices use a pulse oximeter, which continuously monitors the blood oxygen level. The pulse oximeter sounds an alarm if there is even a small change from normal oxygen levels, allowing the veterinarian to respond before serious problems develop

Removal of heavy tartar deposits
Using an ultrasonic scaler, we remove the visible external tartar depositsthat hard brownish material that forms along the gum line.

Extraction of severely diseased teeth
At this stage, we carefully examine the teeth. Any teeth diseased past the point of saving are removed. There may be none, or many. Teeth are never extracted when we are in doubt, but if you can wiggle a tooth with your fingers and pus squishes up out of the root socket, it needs to go. At this point everything that will be visible to the owner has been done. Until recent years this was as far as most veterinarians went with dental work.

Root planeing (smoothing)
The most important part of having your teeth cleaned is that unpleasant scraping part. Hidden tartar deposits under the gum line push healthy tissue away from the root, giving bacteria a place to live and grow. Removing the tartar helps gums stay healthy

Polishing
Teeth cleaning leaves a lot of microscopic scratches and roughness which provide places for tartar to form. Polishing the teeth smoothes this surface, making it more resistant. All this time, you probably thought it was so you'd have a bright shiny smile.

Periodontitis
For advanced cases of gum disease (periodontitis) veterinarians now have a new antibiotic dental gel. After thoroughly cleaning the affected areas, we squirt this gooey antibiotic gel into diseased gum spaces using a little micro-sized caulking gun. Once in place, the gel hardens up and sticks there. Over the next two weeks, as the gel dissolves, it emits an antibiotic that kills bacteria and provides the loose infected gum tissue with an opportunity to reattach. Although not yet available for people, this gel has been amazingly effective for dogs.

A:What kind of gum disease is it? How severe is it? Does he have problems eating? I would only do it if it is extremely bad, try the anibotics or teeth cleaning first. If there is still constant inflammation in a certain area, maybe only a few teeth need to be extracted, the ones that may be causing this problem. Use your best judgement. Try taking him to a vet dentist, they may have a better insight on your cat's situation.

Here's some info I found.



Dental calculus (tartar) is composed of various mineral salts, organic material and food particles. In the early stages of accumulation, the material is soft (plaque), but it later hardens and adheres to the teeth. Continual accumulation causes inflammation of the gums and eventual recession of the gums and loose teeth. The breath becomes very odorous and the mouth becomes a dangerous source of infection. As the plaque hardens into calculus, it becomes almost 80% bacteria. That bacteria leads to the formation of pus under the gum line, which then causes pain in the pet's mouth. Although our pets handle a painful mouth much better than we do, it still hurts them to use their mouths at this stage. Plus every time the pet swallows, he or she swallows quite a load of bacteria.

Untreated tooth and gum disease may allow bacteria to enter the bloodstream and cause damage to the valves of the heart. Recent research has revealed a DIRECT involvement of tooth and gum disease with GI problems (like diarrhea and/or vomiting), liver and kidney diseases, and heart disease.

A:Thanks for the info! At this point, it just looks red around his teeth on the one side. He doesn't appear to be in pain...though it does look like he isn't chewing food on that side.

I'll have to check to see if there is a vet dentist around. I'm in a smaller town, so maybe not. I've went to this vet for 9 years and he's never steered me wrong, but like I said, pulling sounded kind of drastic. He likened it to humans--some people are just born with bad teeth and end up losing them all in their 30's, some people have their teeth forever. Poor kitty! hahaha

Thanks again for all your help!

Andria