Dogs Teeth Removed without XRays?!

when doing dog or cat dentals, radiographs are always preferred as there is a lot of pathology one cannot possibly determine from just looking at the teeth (no matter how close one looks, probes, wiggles etc.). Several studies done have proved that up to 30% of 'routine' dentals miss teeth that should be extracted, but aren't because the problems below the surface were not detected with radiographs.... however many of our clients chose NOT to do radiographs due to the costs, and as a result we are probably missing some teeth that really should be extracted but aren't. We leave it up to the clients because full mouth rads at our practice is $250, a cost that seems too much to many clients who are used to much lower prices for dentals (before we even had a dental X-ray machine). I personally still radiograph all teeth that are removed to make sure we didn't leave behind any roots (a very very common problem at a lot of hospitals)... we usually end up not charging the client for this service... the excuse we use is that we want to make sure we are not making a mistake (and frankly there often is no other way to know for sure)... so the management lets us get away with that, but still frowns upon it.

The digital age has made dental radiography so much easier and faster than it used to be (I remember back, not that long ago when we had to hold tiny pieces of film in the patients mouths and then put them individually in dip tanks of developer and fixer... took so long just to see if we even got the right angle to see the roots etc.... took forever!). My wife is a technician at another practice (much smaller and with more time scheduled for each procedure) and there dental radiographs are mandatory.. .no rads, no dentals, and she is amazed how often they discover rotten teeth that looked totally healthy on the surface (and these are MOSTLY dogs!).

So for a veterinary facility to say they can SEE which teeth are bad is bologna. Sure, they can see a lot of bad teeth, but certainly not all of them. And another thing radiographs can show (and often do) are situations when the roots are 'wrapped around' the lower jaw cortex and removal of those teeth could easily result in a jaw fracture, which you wouldn't know if you had not taken a film first... THOSE teeth get left behind no matter how bad the pathology and recommendations to see a dental specialist are made (let THEM fracture the jaw!)... fractured jaws are not that rare in the world of dog dentistry, and really there is no excuse for them.

For what it's worth most vets don't even have the capability to take dental X-rays. The value of routine dental care for pets has only recently, in the past few years, begun to gain popularity. Cats have thinner jaw bones than dogs, and as a result they have great chance of an accidental broken jaw for what may appear to be a "routine" extraction. That being said, you are correct that it is always the best medicine to do a set of full mouth X-rays to evaluate what you cannot see, same a you would have done at your own dentist . The problem is that most owners are not willing to pay for such services. With people we have health insurance that usually covers a decent amount if not all of our routine dental care, so we don't see the actual cost that the dentist is charging our insurance company. With vet care you see ALL of the cost, and if you have pet insurance they usually only reimburse you a portion of the bill.

Just as an FYI most pets usually require more than one dental cleaning within their lifetime. You can help minimize the frequency of dental procedures by brushing your dogs teeth on a daily basis. But even with us most people usually get cleanings done 2x a year, and that's with throughly brushing our teeth 1-2 times a day & regular flossing. If your dog ever needs another dental, I would request they do a set of full mouth X-rays at that time.