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Dealing With Dog Dental Pain
PATIENT: ACE BEAN
PROBLEM: TOOTH ABSCESS
One of our dogs Ace recently went for his yearly vaccination and check-up with Dr Hannah Parkin at Roundwood Vets. During the examination, Dr Hannah noticed that he had a few teeth with tiny dark spots on his teeth, so we decided that it would be a good idea to have his teeth X-rayed and then cleaned up. We booked him in for the treatment and proceeded. When Hannah checked the x-ray she was very surprised to find that one tooth had a very bad abscess under it and also some other teeth had started going bad. We were told this by phone during the treatment and Hannah kept us informed all the way. He had some stitches in his gum after treatment which meant that Ace was on soft food for 7 days until Hannah could check to see that everything was healing properly. Happily, all went well.
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The one thing that we did find out that his teeth must have been hurting, because his appetite was a lot better than it had been before the dental work.
What we did to fix the problem
During Ace's vaccine check up, we found a small but suspicious area of redness and swelling on one of his lower premolar teeth. This can be a sign of a hidden abscess which is a very painful problem to suffer with. So we booked Ace in quickly for some dental Xrays to diagnose his issue. Ace is a great dog, but all dogs need a general anaesthetic and Xrays to assess their mouths safely and completely. You can't do a good job otherwise and you are going to miss disease.
Once we had we found the abscess very quickly. You can actually see the abscess very easily on the Xray picture above. It's the dark shadow around the root of the second tooth from the left. The arrow is pointing directly at it. Once we worked this out, it was a simple job to extract the tooth, stitch up his gum and send him home on strong painkillers and antibiotics. He recovered really well.
What did the Doctor say
Ace was a star and very relaxed about the whole thing. When his family reported to me that he was eating much better after the surgery, this confirmed what I knew from the Xray, that these infected teeth were hurting him - he was just being very brave - Dr. Hannah Parkin
What did the pet owner say
The treatment that we got for Ace was brilliant. Dr Hannah and her team kept us informed at all times. The friendly atmosphere of the practice also gave us a lot of confidence that we made the right choice in choosing Roundwood Vets." - Terry Bean (Ace's Owner)
Call 020 8459 4729 to book your dental check up today
Remember dental disease causes pain and infection in more than 80% of pets over the age of three years and will reduce both the quality and quantity of life.
If you want a happy healthy pet, they have to have happy healthy teeth.