Comments on: Anaesthetic Free Dentistry

By: N. James

N. James — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:17:55 +0000

In reply to N. James.

I would like to add to my post after my dog has had proper dental procedures done by a fabulous vet. My fear of anaesthesia was put at ease. This is standard even when their bits are snipped. At 2 years old my boy had significant dental issues UNDER the gums that no one can see with a 5 minute naked eye view. This is in spite of undergoing two useless anaesthesia free procedures, using that so called coconut oil toothpaste (which gave my dog diarrhoea), daily brushing with dog toothpaste, feeding a famous and highly promoted commercial dental chew (did absolutely nothing for him and bleeding gums stopped after I stopped feeding this stuff), and just doing everything humanly possible to address preventative dental issues. Luckily no extractions as I was on top of it all but, yes, age 2…first dental clean…went under…came out hopefully pain free. I will now do a 6 monthly check up with vet nurses and proceed with dental procedures at the vet as often as recommended because some dogs simply have bad teeth. I would rather embrace that truth than lie to myself and hurt a dog I love so much.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 07:57:18 +0000

In reply to N. James. Thank you for posting this. I wish everyone was as clear eyed to the suffering and pointlessness of it all.

By: N. James

N. James — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 22:17:38 +0000

I used two different businesses offering this type of anaesthetic free service to clean my dog’s teeth. On both occasions the result was purely cosmetic. For both practitioners they were fond of talking about their private lives which did not interest me in the least and slandering vets and their competitors. One promoted only raw meat as a proper diet and I was made to feel like a bad parent for choosing cooked meals, dog rolls and kibble. The other called my dog “disgusting” after he expressed his anal glands onto him from the immense stress. As a result of these experiences I decided to only use qualified and professional vets for all future dental procedures even if it means going under every 2 years. I consult your articles for everything and I agree 100% with all of them. The Vet Board should ban all forms of animal dental procedures in this country which are performed by unqualified and unaccredited people. The deliberate infliction of stress on any animal is cruel. The risk posed in using sharp instruments on the mouths of a stressed and moving animal is dangerous. I gave it a fair go because of the high reviews but I will never ever go back to it. It is absolutely BS.

By: Nicky

Nicky — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 10:01:42 +0000

In reply to Robyn. It's not always laziness. I persisted in trying to clean my Cavoodles teeth nightly for quite a while. It became harder each time as she hated it and pulled away. Now I still try ,but give her some chicken necks and green chews too. She's 9 and a diabetic for the last two, so her teeth do worry me.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 04:08:58 +0000

In reply to Jude Hill. Thanks Jude for being able to be so brave in recognising a mistake so that others don’t make it too – it’s a perfectly understandable one as you aren’t being presented with the full story, as you now know.

By: Jude Hill

Jude Hill — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 03:12:08 +0000

I used the Melbourne based , Anaesthetic free dental services about three years ago when they visited Adelaide, for my 11 year old maltese cross terriers. I should have consulted my vet but I trusted the notion that this was stress free. It is anything BUT stress free. My dog had a mild heart murmur and this stress caused him to have severe heart problems. He was panting and this was ignored by them. They both ended up with worse health problems because dentals cant be done effectively with the equipment they use. My dogs were frightened and stressed and one dog immediately became very unwell with his heart as a result of that incident and he died a year later.

My vet said that the level of dental, health issues and age of my dogs contraindicated the anaesthetic free cleaning but the service providers didnt inform me of that and were more concerned with telling me of the antibacterial wonders of coconut oil when what needed to happen was antibiotics and vet care. Also I informed them of the outcomes for my dogs and was ignored by them .
I was devastated to have let my dogs down in this way. They are charlatans and quacks and shouldn’t be allowed to practice and i really advise anyone against using them.

By: Robyn

Robyn — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 22:36:41 +0000

It’s really simple. I clean My two dogs teeth every single day, without failure, takes 2 minutes each, ifnpeople aren’t prepared to devote 2 minutes a day to their dog, theybshoildnt have one in my opinion. One is 11 years old, little pure Maltese, with all his teeth, sparkling white, other is 9. Same breed perfect teeth, it’s just laziness.

By: Gillian Sippen

Gillian Sippen — Sat, 17 Dec 2016 00:34:05 +0000

One simple word…….YESSSSSSSSSSS!

I’ve been searching for the words myself to explain to clients, thank you Dr Spanner, now I just need to show this

By: Dr Belinda Parsons

Dr Belinda Parsons — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 15:04:44 +0000

Love the 5 stages of dental grief. I can totally relate. Well written and I too am concerned by the development of anaesthesia free dentistry. Purely cosmetic and of no real benefit to the pet. As you state it can actually harm them emotionally. Thanks for another great blog