i enjoyed your You tube vide on pet teeth cleaning. I need to locate a hygienist in Pasadena, CAlifornia that cleans dogs’ teeth but does not use anesthesia

The point of my post was not to promote anesthesia for all dental cleaning procedures… or that all pet owners should be able to provide top-of-the-line veterinary dental care—- this is not a reasonable thing to ask of every pet-owner. The important thing to remember is that the most effective- and least expensive means of providing our pets with optimal dental care is to brush their teeth (as you have mentioned on your site in a few areas). Granted, there is the occasional pet that will under no circumstances allow Mom or Dad to brush their teeth… but most will sit for the procedure with dedication and training.

This is the most important message, isn’t it? Homecare (brushing, optimizing diet, paying attention to our pet’s health) is the most important step in providing dental care—- and if done with regularity will eliminate the need for petowners to consider cleanings- whether provided by certified veterinary teams or (hopefully not) a self-appointed doggie dentist who may be lacking in necessary skill. (I certainly wouldn’t hire a hairdresser to scale and assess my kids’ teeth… see where I’m going here?)

My second point was that dental cleanings on awake pets is not as safe as it is often percieved… why bother with an anesthesia-free cleaning if it is causing damage??? Since the majority of damaging effects are seldom visible to the untrained eye, it is important that people are informed about it’s occurrence.

This is why I felt compelled to post this information— petowners need to know that they can help their pets more with dedicated at-home brushing of teeth than can any yearly (or twice-yearly) cleaning. This is a great fact to be made aware of.

Moral of the story: We can spare our pets dental disease, the potential stress of cleanings with electronic devices, and the potentially severe risks of anesthesia if we just get off our duffs and start brushing.

Best of luck with your two little doggies, Jan… they seem like such a sweet little pair!

However … I am not advocating for anesthesia free dentistry. My video is merely to help people separate the better practitioners from the many bad and dangerous ones. In my book, I describe anesthesia free teeth cleaning and practitioners in detail. I also detail what a better job a highly-skilled veterinary dentist can do.

Not long after the video on my website, my very small dogs, Chiclet and Jiggy, underwent cleaning with a board-certified veterinary dentist. (I had interviewed him for my book, Scared Poopless: The Straight Scoop on Dog Care.) He had two other vets in the room at all times. X-rays were taken and evaluated and extractions made. Because he knows me and my work, I was allowed to observe every step of the way and take photos.

Unfortunately, even a $5000 procedure with three excellent vets and vital signs being monitoring as completely as they are in surgery on humans, both dogs had to be monitored all night at an emergency facility. Chiclet (my 4-pounder who has a collapsing trachea) ended up in emergency rooms twice during the following week and has never fully recovered. Jiggy, who has liver disease, was also at risk under anesthesia.

There is no good dental care solution, especially for “senior” pets, and especially those with respiratory problems. Most people can’t afford to give their dogs the kind of care my dogs had (I couldn’t really afford it either) and even with Gold Standard care, there were problems. Also, I get countless emails from people telling horror stories about their own dogs dental experiences at their primary vet’s office. The veterinary dentist who treated my dog trains other local vets and their staffs free of charge because he feels the standard of care is lacking.

Thanks again for writing. I don’t disagree with what you said, but I will be very reluctant to put my dogs under anesthesia again — except to save their lives.

I really have to express my concerns regarding this page. As the video easily demonstrates, anesthesia-free dental cleanings are often performed by individual who, although caring and gentle, are unable to recognize signs of dental and oral pathology (severe tooth mobility, gingival recession and excessive gingival pocket depths– these are all measures of significant periodontal disease). As Jan mentioned in the video, just because the teeth look clean does not mean that they are healthy– just a bit prettier! We should not be fooled by white, shiny teeth… It is true that most dental pathology (disease) resides BELOW THE GUMLINE and along the roots of the teeth, where we just can’t see it happening.

So, it is VERY important to realize that even with a gentle hand that may be talented in getting the teeth squeaky-clean, the dogs featured in the video were subjected to discomfort and pain during the procedure… it’s sad, but true. We need to remember that our dogs and cats are not able to say “Ouch, Mom! That hurts, and my tooth is loose because I have severe periodontal disease!”. They are exceptionally good at hiding many instances when they are in pain. We therefore need to be on the defensive with our pets and protect them to the best of our abilities from experiencing unnecessarily painful procedures…. And I can assure everyone that scaling on a tooth as loose as those Chicklet has in the video hurt- Ouch!

Many years experience in grooming pets or cleaning their teeth is not satisfactory replacement for proper training in veterinary dentistry. Knowledgeable veterinarians are aware of the mechanisms of disease, recognition of pathology and current therapies that offer optimal results—- I often explain to my clients that although I groomed and bred dogs for many years, I still needed to study veterinary medicine and become a licensed practitioner before I could ethically offer my services in dentistry to a patient- a lay “tooth-cleaning” serviceperson is simply not entirely trained to perform this procedure properly.

In light of this issue, I highly recommend a consultation with a knowledgeable veterinarian about your pet’s teeth/gums/tongue/lips and whether there is evidence of disease prior to visiting an anesthesia-free tooth-cleaner. It is very important to have the whole picture in mind regarding your pet’s health prior to making your decision on health care. I would also recommend visiting a number of veterinarians in your area until you find the right one for you. It will cost you more in initial consultation visits, but you will likely be much happier with your veterinarian if you know you can trust their knowledge and skills. My suggestion is to ask your vet if they actually ENJOY veterinary dentistry… in my experience, vets that love a particular field go the extra mile to be as current and skilled in that area as they possibly can be. There are vets out there who love dentistry because it is a challenging and fascinating field- you’ll be happy when you find one.

Another tip when finding the right dentistry vet for you is to listen to the type of advice they are giving. If your vet performs a thorough oral exam and openly discusses with you any signs of disease, pain, or conformational abnormalities and what they mean to your pet before talking about an anesthetic/dental/surgery quote, then this is likely a vet that enjoys dentistry and wants to do what’s best for your dog. The first piece of advice that I lend to my patients and their families is that daily brushing of teeth is the absolute best means of preventing dental disease.

However, the primary reason I am commenting on this video is in regards to anesthesia-free cleaning and it’s potential risks to the patient that I wish to make everyone aware of. Yes, there are risks of aspiration (inhalation) of contaminated water, and risks of unnecessary pain endured by the pet during the procedure. And yes, there are absolutely risks associated with putting a patient under anesthetic, so we need to aware of potential risks with all approaches.

The VERY big problem with anesthesia-free dental procedures lies in the issue of subgingival (below the gumline) scaling of the teeth. Subgingival scaling on an awake dog is assuredly going to result in unnecessary trauma to subgingival structures (such as the periodontal ligament, which is vital to dental health). When a pet flinches, moves their tongue in response to water spray in the mouth, or if the tooth being scaled has any degree of mobility during scaling, then damage is being done to the subgingival structures. A cleaning that damages these structures is not actually helping our pet, but HURTING… we will see this result either in the short or long term as progression of periodontal disease occurs as a direct result of this damaging procedure. It is for this reason above any other that I typically condemn the practice of anesthesia-free cleanings— why do it if we are in actuality making things worse????

First, do no harm. Right?

So, the safest advice I can offer in conclusion is 1) it is in the best interests of your pet to do the extra legwork and find the best vet for your needs. 2) The old saying that ‘you get what you pay for’ rings true in most instances… cheap dental procedures mean only one thing: that shortcuts are being taken, or the wrong procedure was being performed.

and 3) The absolute best thing that you can do your pet’s dental health is to BRUSH THEIR TEETH (using pet-safe toothpaste). The best results are found with brushing every 24 hours to prevent disease. However, just as Jan mentioned, significant benefit (not requiring special scalings and cleanings) can be seen in many dogs when teeth are brushed every 48 hours (3-4 times per week)! This is an excellent (and very inexpensive) solution to this debate!!!! Hooray!

I hope that these comments have been informative and have not sounded heavy-handed… as a veterinarian, I myself would be pleased if my patients did not ever require cleanings in my clinic because their teeth were being brushed at home! And sometimes, yes, our pets do develop dental disease in spite of all of our efforts— and this is of course when it is time for an experienced and knowledgeable veterinarian examination and treatment is warranted.