Why Does My Pet Need Anesthesia For A Teeth Cleaning?

Here at Country Hills Animal Clinic we call our dental cleanings COHAT. This stands for Comprehensive Oral Health Assessment and Treatment. Yes, we clean the teeth but there is much more to do. The pet is given a complete oral exam of the teeth, surrounding tissue, gums, jaw, tongue, sublingual area (under the tongue) as well as the soft palate. This is not possible to successfully accomplish while the pet is awake. While cleaning the teeth it is important to get underneath the gum line and in some cases excess gum tissue may need to be trimmed away to aid in the health of the teeth. Non-anesthetic cleaning can only get the visual part of the tooth and that can be just the tip of the iceberg. If a tooth is broken or has root exposure, we can take action right then with the pet under anesthesia.