A Case Report on Anesthesia-Free Dentals
Sweet Pea’s Case Report
On February 27th 2015 “Sweet Pea” Toby, a female greyhound of unknown age (over 5 years) was
brought in by her owner for an anesthesia-free dental. “Sweet Pea” was bright alert and responsive.
Her owner informed the veterinarian that she had no known health problems. The veterinarian on site
cleared her for the procedure.
“Sweet Pea” lay down calmly and comfortably for the procedure on a thick pillow on the floor in the
technician’s lap. The technician wore surgical gloves and a mask and gave the dog some Bach Flower
essence to help with any anxiety.
The technician performed an initial oral exam of the oral cavity checking for loose or broken teeth,
tumors, foreign bodies, abscesses, obvious periodontal disease, or abnormalities of the soft tissues. If
any of these issues had been present we would not proceed with the dental and inform the owner.
Often in order to thoroughly check the technician must first remove areas of heavy calculus. If we do
not do the dental there is no charge. So nothing lost by the owner.
A sterile scaler and calculus rongeur were used to remove the plaque and calculus from all the teeth
above and below the gum line. This took approximately 35 minutes. The technician then used a
blacklight to highlight any calculus she may have missed. The black light will glow about 80% of calculus
pink. She then probed the gum line of all the teeth and recorded the depths. She recorded the state of
the teeth. She then recorded and charted the state of the gums and soft tissues. The technician then
used an electric polisher to polish the surfaces of the teeth.
The following was contained in her report.
Teeth had moderate calculus and a moderate amount of bleeding and some staining. There were 2
missing teeth 108 and 208 (both upper carnassial teeth). Some teeth were worn with no pulp exposure,
410, and 3 of the canines, 404,304, and 204. All the lower incisors were worn with pulp exposure.
The gums were mostly a grade 1 gingivitis. All inflammation is reversible. There were 2 areas of 1 mm
gum detachment at 409 and 309 (both lower molar number ones.) graded at 2 (25% or less of
attachment loss.) All gum depths probed less than 3mm.
The lower canines had made a depression in the upper gingiva between the upper canines and incisor
number 3’s.
The owner was informed of everything that was found in the mouth and encouraged to get an X- ray
because of the pulp exposure and recession.
Sweet Pea’s dental report.
Before the technician cleaned Sweet Pea’s teeth.
After the technician cleaned Sweet Pea’s teeth.