Pet Teeth Extractions

As a veterinary specialist in dentistry and oral surgery, Dr. Winter is able to provide treatments that would rather save teeth than perform surgical extractions of dog and cat teeth. Sadly, there are circumstances where your pet will benefit medically and long-term from having teeth surgically extracted.

Circumstances where surgical extractions are appropriate:

Advanced (stage 4) periodontal disease occurs when teeth are unstable due to bone loss, and advanced periodontal surgery would be ineffective.
When extracting less important (smaller) teeth will make a more important tooth (carnassial, canine) healthier and at less risk of periodontal disease.
Fractured teeth where the prognosis for root canal therapy is less than acceptable. Most often, this is due to advanced pathology or periodontal disease.
High-risk patients. Midwest Animal Dental & Oral Surgery treats a lot of higher-risk patients for oral pain and infection. Many patients with diabetes, heart, liver, and kidney disease have painful and infected teeth that prevent them from having a good quality of life. Just as important, once the oral infection and inflammation are cleared, it is not uncommon for these patients’ preexisting disease (diabetes, heart, liver, kidney) to become better managed by your veterinarian. After a consultation, appropriate pre-anesthetic testing and possible consultation with other specialists will determine if your pet’s anesthetic risk is manageable. Even with higher-risk patients, the benefits of treating oral and dental problems usually outweigh the anesthetic risk.

Extraction of an animal’s tooth can be difficult when compared to a human’s tooth. When you lift the lip and look at your pet’s teeth, visualize 60% more teeth below the gum line with an intricate root structure extending deep into the bone. Many of these roots can be easily broken and are closely located to other important anatomical structures like major blood vessels, nerves, nasal cavities, and even the eye. Not only do the roots need to be completely removed, but the surrounding bone must also be appropriately treated.

If extractions are being recommended by your veterinarian, we suggest discussing with them about a referral to a veterinary dental specialist for evaluation and treatment so that a “complete exam” can be performed and that all options for saving the tooth can be exhausted, and if extraction is necessary, that it is done with the highest level of care and expertise.