Anesthesia requires the heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver to be functioning at their best. During the pre-anesthetic assessment, we evaluate your pet to ensure they can safely undergo anesthesia. This includes a full physical exam (nose to tail assessment), bloodwork, and additional testing as needed depending on your pet’s age, medical history, and specific conditions. These may include an EKG to assess heart rhythm, blood pressure measurements, or pre-anesthetic X-rays. By gathering this information, we are able to create an anesthetic plan tailored to your pet’s needs, providing the highest level of safety and comfort during their procedure.

Before anesthesia begins, your pet receives a set of carefully chosen pre-medications. These include pain relief, anti-nausea medication, and a mild sedative to help them relax. This keeps your pet comfortable during IV catheter placement, the start of anesthesia, and even into recovery.

Anesthesia is then started with intravenous medications that are given slowly and adjusted to your pet’s individual response. Once they are safely asleep, we place an endotracheal tube (a soft breathing tube) that fits their airway. This tube protects the lungs and allows us to deliver oxygen and inhaled anesthetic throughout the procedure.

During anesthesia, your pet is closely monitored with advanced equipment that measures:

• Heart rate and rhythm (EKG)

• Blood pressure

• Oxygen levels in the blood (SpO₂)

• Carbon dioxide levels while breathing (ETCO₂)

• Body temperature

Along with the technology, a trained anesthesia team is at your pet’s side the entire time to make adjustments as needed and keep them safe and comfortable.

Dental imaging is one of the most important parts of a high-quality dental procedure. Much like an iceberg, the part of the tooth you see above the gum line is only a small fraction of the whole structure. The majority of disease—including infections, root resorption, and bone loss—hides below the gums where it cannot be seen with the naked eye. Without X-rays, this disease goes undetected and untreated, leaving pets in pain.

By using dental X-rays, we can quickly and safely detect hidden problems and provide the most complete, comfortable, and effective dental care for your pet.

After dental imaging has been completed, we perform a thorough oral examination. This is the only appropriate way to fully assess the mouth—by pairing dental X-rays with hands-on evaluation.

Using specialized dental instruments, we carefully assess:

• Pocketing: measuring the depth around each tooth to check for periodontal disease

• Mobility: determining if a tooth has become loose from bone loss

• Furcation exposure: evaluating the area where roots divide in multi-rooted teeth

• Gingival and tooth health: identifying inflammation, fractures, or other pathology

When combined with X-rays, this oral exam provides a complete picture of your pet’s dental health and allows us to make the best recommendations for treatment.

As much as we wish every tooth could be saved, sometimes extractions or other therapies are necessary to relieve pain and prevent ongoing infection. We do not take tooth-anasia lightly. Our goal is always to preserve teeth when possible, but if leaving a tooth behind means continued pain or disease, we will recommend the path that ensures your pet’s comfort and long-term health.

Dental extractions are recommended only when absolutely necessary. If a tooth cannot be saved due to advanced disease, infection, or pain, removing it is the best way to restore your pet’s comfort and overall health. A loose or painful tooth has no value to an animal that only feels the pain and does not understand the value of keeping a tooth because of how it “looks.”

To ensure a smooth and pain-managed procedure, we use local nerve blocks (similar to what you receive at the dentist) in addition to injectable pain control. This significantly reduces discomfort both during the procedure and in the recovery period.

Once a tooth is removed, the extraction site is carefully sutured closed. This helps protect the area, promotes faster healing, and minimizes the risk of complications. Our goal is to make every extraction as safe and comfortable as possible so your pet can return to a pain-free, healthy life.

Once any diseased teeth or infection have been addressed, the remaining teeth are given a complete professional cleaning. We use an ultrasonic scaler to remove plaque and tartar both above and below the gumline, followed by gentle hand-scaling to ensure no hidden buildup is left behind underneath the gumline

After scaling, each tooth is polished to smooth the surface, which helps slow down future plaque accumulation. If extractions were performed, we also take post-extraction dental X-rays to confirm proper healing and resolution of all concerns.

This process not only leaves your pet’s mouth healthier and more comfortable, but also helps prevent future disease—keeping their teeth and gums in the best condition possible.

Recovery is one of the most important phases of your pet’s dental procedure. As your pet begins to wake up from anesthesia, our team provides constant, hands-on monitoring to ensure a safe and smooth transition back to full awareness.

During this period, we carefully track vital signs and comfort level, staying by your pet’s side until we are confident they are stable and safe from the lingering effects of anesthesia. Pain management is a priority, and additional pain-relief injections are given as needed to keep your pet comfortable throughout recovery.

Our goal is to make this process as gentle and stress-free as possible, so your pet wakes up calm, cared for, and on the path to healing.

Once your pet is safely awake, comfortable, and ready to leave the hospital, they’ll head home for the best part—snuggles and rest in their favorite spot.

If extractions were performed, we recommend feeding softened food for about a week to protect the sutures and allow the mouth to heal properly. During this time, please also put away chew toys, bones, or hard treats that could disrupt the healing process.

At home, it’s normal for pets to feel a little sleepy or groggy the evening after anesthesia. Most bounce back quickly, but we ask that you keep a close eye on them and provide a calm, quiet environment while they recover.

Things to watch for at home include:

• Return of appetite and normal drinking within 24 hours

• Mild swelling at extraction sites (will improve with time)

• Small spots of blood in the water bowl after drinking (not unusual, but should be minimal)

• Comfort level—your pet should not show signs of pain such as pawing at the mouth, crying, or refusing to eat

If you notice persistent bleeding, swelling that worsens, vomiting, lethargy that does not improve, or any other concerning changes, please contact us right away.

Most pets heal very quickly after dental procedures, and with proper at-home care, they are back to their normal routines—just with healthier, more comfortable mouths.