Root canal redux

[SoloRiver]

Solo got a hold of one of Fly's marrow bones and broke another tooth -- this time his right maxillary fourth premolar (a commonly broken chewing tooth). I decided to leave this one in (three roots, structurally useful tooth, young dog) and go for another root canal. It was broken badly enough to bother him and it turns out he had driven a piece of gravel way down into the pulp while playing ball, so had I left it untreated it would definitely have become infected (not to mention the gravel may have been causing pain on its own).

 

Here's a photo of the broken tooth:

 

 

The Penn vet hospital did another fantastic job and this time they used Telazol to sedate Solo instead of acepromazine and everything went much more smoothly. The anesthesiologist remembered Solo and his reaction to ace quite well. This time I was able to assist with the pre-anesthetic routine. True to form, the normal dose of Telazol (which is the sort of drug you also use to dart coyotes in the wild, and can be reversed with an antidote) did not sedate Solo. Rather than being flat out, he was sitting up and looking around all googly-eyed. So he required a bit of Valium on top of it, but he was not stressed and was back to normal later in the evening. All in all I'm pleased.

 

I don't have an after photo yet, but the tooth looks great and they also cleaned his teeth, took blood for his yearly screen, and did heartworm/Lyme testing while he was out cold. With Solo, it's best to do vet exams while he's unconscious.

[emmetteabrakai]

Don't you love what they are doing with animal denistry these days . Is a root canal the same as a vital pulpotomy. Emmette had one years ago when he broke a canine off at a sharp(literly) right angle. The tooth held and stayed viable until the end. It was so much better than pulling it.

Plus my Abra had a severe Mal aclusion sp?? and they did a reduction of her bottom canines that were pushing in to the roof of her mouth. This was done when she was spayed and 5 1/2 months old so the reduction had to take in to consideration her continued mouth growth. Quite facinating really.

I'm glad Solo was able to keep the tooth, it does make a difference just like in people.

Andrea D.

[Nikki Larned]

Wow! That is really awesome how they are doing dogs teeth nowadays. I worked as an RDA (reg. Dental Assistant) for years, and I think that it is definitly the wisest decision to go ahead and fix dogs teeth as well. Just out of curiosity, what does something like this cost for a dogs molar with 3 roots? Nikki

[juliepoudrier]

Not a root canal, but a removal, with retrieval of the broken roots cost me something like $450. I imagine a root canal is more than that, and sooner or later I'll have to find out as Kat has 3 broken canines.

 

J.