On your scheduled procedure date, you will arrive at Companion Animal Dental Services and be greeted by our staff and will be asked to fill out four different forms, which include a procedure admit form that outlines any extra complementary services you would like to be done, any known illnesses, known allergies when your pet was last fed, and the best number to contact you. The second form is a dental/anesthesia that permits us to perform the dental procedure and details the risks of anesthesia. This form also asks if you would like us to perform emergency resuscitation in an adverse situation and acknowledge the financial responsibility that comes with the procedure. The third form is the permission to extract form that allows you to accept or decline that we extract any teeth if we cannot contact you. The final document is a medication list of any medications your pet takes to avoid adverse reactions when we give anesthesia and pain management medication. While that happens, we take your pet inside to check their vital and weight. After that, we come back to ask intake questions about the days leading up to surgery day since the initial consult and about medications. Once those questions have been asked, we will remind you that the doctor will call you during the procedure to provide an update on her findings and then again once your pet is out of surgery to schedule a pick-up time once your pet has time to recover.

What happens during an extraction procedure?

Depending on the findings during the consult, it is common that your pet may need extractions. To get a clearer picture of what is going on in the mouth once your pet is anesthetized, we take radiographs and chart each tooth based on how much calculus is present, how deep of a pocket there is around the tooth, and how bad the gums surrounding the tooth are.

During this time, we can see if the tooth root is resorbing, where due to the trauma sustained by the tooth, the body starts to break it down and reject it. We also can see if the tooth is dead, where the pulp is being exposed, leading to an abscess below the gum line. Or if the tooth is broken, we can see how far down below the gum and bone line the tooth has broken. All these and more usually lead to teeth being extracted.

What happens during routine cleaning?

Regardless of the type of procedure your pet is getting, we always perform routine deep cleaning of their teeth. Similar to getting your teeth cleaned at the dentist, your pet receives similar treatment, where the plaque build-up is scraped off the tooth, below the gum line is cleaned because that’s where germs and bacteria like to hide, and finally, each tooth is polished to leave their teeth sparkly clean and better than how they came in.

What happens during discharge?

Your pet’s procedure is over, and their teeth are good as new! Once the procedure is over, we will recover your pet, and the doctor will update you about what she has done, give you a brief rundown of home care, and set up a pick-up time to retrieve your pet. When you arrive, our staff will greet you again to go over home care based on the procedure and schedule a recheck, if needed, to ensure everything in the mouth is healing properly. After that, we will review all the pictures and radiographs we’ve printed to visualize what was done. Finally, your fur baby is returned to you!

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