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Comment by doubled112 | Hacker News Reader

Are you saying that we should routinely anesthetize our animals to clean their teeth?

Sincere question: my relatively non-aggressive-at-sales vet, whose office has beocome a bit more aggressive recently, said this month that my nearly 12 year old dog has had a tooth fracture for over a year - and it needs a $X,000 removal relatively soon, for which he would have to go under anaesthesia and stay the day.

Pup has been eating fine, and continues to eat fine, including relatively hard stuff (no bones or bully sticks but softer dental chews). He does have an accumulation of plaque on said tooth which indicates he favors the other side, and despite the hard pitch, I doubt the vet is lying about a fracture.

The literature online is very equivocal about whether tooth removal is needed and says some fractured teeth are fine and don't cause pain.

Any advice / information sources you trust on how to triage this situation?

Get a second opinion?

I would consult with a few additional vets, perhaps some further out in the countryside and/or older.

You need to balance the quality of life of your dog, the cost, the change of death or other complications, along with alternative options (such as switching food when it gets worse).

Thanks. While steep, I’ll happily pay for the procedure if the risks are minimal and the impact on his quality of life is likely to be meaningfully positive.

Yeah, I'd be less inquisitive about price and more asking the other vets to "level with you on the risks".

And the risks may be acceptable, especially if it comes down to "dog continues to live with ever increasing pain" vs "99% chance of pain free vs 1% chance of peacefully passes away on the operating table".

My vet told me a lot of dogs have high pain thresholds and/or will hide their injuries, so they won't necessarily stop eating from mouth pain. He wasn't trying to upsell me, I was asking why my dog was avoiding food and wondering whether it could be a tooth problem (so unlikely to be the case).

That doesn't help much I know, just make sure you get advice from people you trust have a care about dog's quality of life.

makes sense. thanks.

All of the reputable information I can find, in addition to the advice of literally every vet I've ever worked with over the last 20 years, says "yes." What reputable source (not something like "naturalnews.com") do you have that says that this is unnecessary and dangerous?

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