Fortunately, none of mine have had pain issues with their teeth....nor any gross rotten, infected teeth....deterioration to that point would absolutely be cause for intervention....good dental care for the first 12 years of their life, can not be negated by 3-4 years of no dentals....and with the adm. of prophylactic abx. to protect other organs from any bacterial bombardment (which is almost not even an issue because of good dentals up until that age, as well as apparently good breeding behind my dogs, as my dogs teeth are strong and good and show tartar buildup only mildly to moderately, after 3-4 years of no dentals), the maintainance dose of antibiotic they receive prophylactically obviously do the trick....I can live with a little tartar on teeth....putting seniors under anesthesia and possibility of loosing one, is not something I could ever justify in my mind....I would not ever get over it.....but we have to live with decisions we make for our "dependents"! |