Dog dentist!

We had a big day yesterday. Mum took me to the doggie dentist, yikes!

After the car accident, our primary vet noticed that I had a chipped primary molar, and we weren't sure if it happened in the accident or not. So Mum wanted to have it checked out.

We spent over 1.5 hours with the dentist and dentist technician and learned loads about canine teeth. Mum says she knows more about dog teeth, repairing teeth and root canals than she ever knew before. They were so nice about explaining all the possible procedures.

They recommend that we get it 'fixed', whether that would be with just a coating of resin, or a root canal, or even a cap. So we're looking into it. For a pup, dentistry is quite more complicated than for humans. Mostly because they have to do this when we are 'sleeping', not when we are awake. So all the anesthesia processes have to be in place, including pre-op blood work.

Of course along with more complex processes, come more money. It's pretty expensive for a pup to get their teeth fixed. And since it's my primary molar, it's a pretty important tooth.

We also talked to the dentist about how Mum could get the tartar off Gracie's teeth, since she 'came with bad tarter' from her rescue situation. He said it's so important not to scale or scrape teeth, unless they are polished after by a dentist, 'cause it can just make the tartar worse over time. And it's really best not to use baking soda (which kind of surprised us, but now makes sense).

He said the very best way to take care of your pups teeth is brushing with doggie toothpaste. We use CET, which he also recommended - it has safer ingredients than most toothpastes you get at pet superstores, and won't aggravate my IBS.

We did a Squidoo lens on brushing dog teeth recently. You should check it out.

Keep those teeth looking, feeling and working great, K? 'Cause they are sooo important!