Yeah, absolutely. Anything we do in the mouth that is going to cause discomfort, we always treat with pain meds. Even the basic cleaning is going to be somewhat uncomfortable, so we give them pain meds during the procedure. But anything postoperatively that's going to be painful, so for example, with extractions, we numb everything in the mouth before we do anything so they wake up comfortable and we can keep them on less anesthesia. Then, they're going to go home with anti-inflammatories at a minimum and sometimes additional pain medications because pain control is extremely important.

It really varies based on the level of disease, as the dental procedure is based on being able to evaluate and treat any disease present. In general, a good dental procedure—including anesthesia, the dental x-rays, a thorough oral exam under anesthesia with probing, and then a thorough cleaning—is going to take 45 minutes to an hour. But whenever there's additional work that needs to be done or extractions if there's significant disease, that time can vary. The anesthetic part is vital to be able to provide a really high level of anesthesia with tight monitoring to ensure that we minimize any sort of risks or complications. We always make sure to minimize any risks, and we can discuss that in more detail.

Yes—when we do a dental procedure, which is generally going to be something we recommend annually after about the age of three, and that varies depending on the situation, but dental x-rays are a critical component of us evaluating the mouth. We cannot see under the gum line unless we have dental x-rays, and most of the disease is under the gum line. It’s critical to be able to address any infection, inflammation, or pain in your dog's mouth. We can't do that thoroughly without the x-rays, and I wouldn't recommend doing a dental procedure without dental x-rays. You're going to leave disease behind, and therefore, potentially infection and pain behind in your pet's mouth that you can't see or are unaware of because it's all under the gum line.

The general recommendation for dogs is biannual or twice-a-year exams, and that's typically what we're going to recommend for wellness visits. Having your dog's mouth evaluated twice a year is usually a good place to start unless they're prone to breaking their teeth or something like that; if we can't control their chewing. But generally twice a year is going to be a good start.

The most common thing we see with dogs is that the owners notice bad breath. That is one of the common symptoms. Other things to look for are if they're dropping their food, if they're eating slower than they typically used to, if they're not eating as much, if they're shy from you being around their head—any changes like that could be an indication that your dog needs dental care. Now, the hard part about dogs, and cats for that matter, when it comes to their mouths is they don't typically show you any signs of pain. It’s essential to come in for regular wellness visits so that we can evaluate the mouth and determine if there's anything off because most of the time when we find something, the owners are unaware.