What Happens on Dental Day: Your Pet’s Dental Cleaning From Drop-Off to Pick-Up
If your dog or cat has a dental cleaning on the calendar, you probably have a few questions and maybe a little bit of dread. That is completely normal. Handing over someone you love for the day is hard, even when you know it is the right call. So here is exactly what happens during a dog and cat dental cleaning at Prairie Animal Hospital in Peoria, from the moment you pull into the parking lot until your pet is snoring on the couch at home.
Before Dental Day: Pre-Anesthetic Bloodwork
Within two weeks of the procedure, we see your pet for a quick exam and a panel of bloodwork. The liver and kidneys do the heavy lifting of processing anesthetic medications, so we want to know they are up for the job. Bloodwork also helps us catch hidden problems like anemia or infection, and it lets us build an anesthetic plan for your individual pet instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.
The night before, give any regular medications as usual, then pick up food and water at midnight unless we have told you otherwise. Your pet will find this deeply unfair. They will survive.
Drop-Off: 7:30 to 8:00 a.m.
When you arrive, text or call to let us know you are here. Once a room is ready, your surgery technician will go over the estimate and paperwork, answer your questions, and set a pick-up time with you. We collect a 50% deposit at check-in, and then your pet heads back to the treatment area with us.
How Our Fear Free Approach Makes the Day Easier
As a Fear Free Certified and Cat Friendly Certified practice, we work hard to keep dental day as low-stress as possible. For pets who get nervous at the vet, we may send home calming medication to give before you leave the house. Cats get quiet, covered kennels away from barking dogs, and every pet is handled gently and with plenty of treats (when fasting rules allow). A calmer pet going into anesthesia typically needs less medication to relax, which makes for a smoother day all around. When they wake up, they recover on soft blankets with warming stuffed animals.
Why Anesthesia Is Needed (and Why Anesthesia-Free Cleanings Fall Short)
More than half of each tooth sits below the gumline, and that is where dental disease does its real damage. Anesthesia-free cleanings only scrape the tartar you can see. The teeth look whiter, but the infection underneath goes untreated, and it can quietly get worse while everyone assumes the problem is solved. They also cannot include X-rays, and holding sharp instruments near an awake pet’s gums is stressful for them and risky for everyone involved. The American Veterinary Dental College recommends against them for exactly these reasons.
Under general anesthesia, a breathing tube protects your pet’s airway from bacteria-filled water and debris, and we can examine and clean every surface of every tooth, including the ones in the very back.
Anesthesia Monitoring
Before anesthesia, your pet receives a pre-medication to help them relax and an IV catheter so we can give fluids and have vein access the entire time. A dedicated technician then watches blood pressure, heart rate, ECG, oxygen levels, breathing and temperature from start to finish, with warming support to keep your pet cozy. Their only job is your pet. 5 min of pre-oxygenating prior to Induction
Full-Mouth X-Rays and Cleaning
We take full-mouth dental X-rays on every patient, because roughly half of the problems we find are hiding below the gumline. Next comes scaling above and below the gums, polishing to smooth the tooth surface, and measuring the pockets around every tooth. Dr. Kuhn then examines and charts each tooth individually. You will receive your pet’s X-rays by email, along with before-and-after photos that are usually pretty satisfying.
Extractions and Treating Gum Disease
When a tooth is broken, infected or has lost too much of its bone support, removing it is the kindest option. We use local nerve blocks (the same idea as your dentist’s numbing shot), close the gums with dissolvable stitches, and send pain medication home. Most pets eat just fine afterward, and many act younger once a sore tooth is gone. If we find something unexpected, we call you before moving forward, so please keep your phone nearby.
For teeth that are worth saving but have deeper gum pockets, we can clean the root surface and place a slow-release antibiotic periodontal gel directly into the pocket. It helps the gum reattach and keeps the tooth in the game longer. You can read more in our periodontal gel post.
Cats: Tooth Resorption, Stomatitis and Easy-to-Miss Signs
Cats are world-class at hiding pain, and their mouths are no exception.
Tooth resorption happens when the body starts breaking down a tooth from the inside out. It is very common in adult cats, it is painful, and it is often only visible on X-rays. Affected teeth usually need to be removed.
Stomatitis is severe inflammation of the mouth caused by the immune system overreacting to plaque. It is extremely painful, and treatment often means removing most or all of the teeth. That sounds dramatic, although most cats feel dramatically better afterward and eat happily without them.
Signs that are easy to miss in cats include dropping food, chewing on one side, suddenly preferring wet food, drooling, pawing at the mouth, bad breath, a greasy or unkempt coat from skipping grooming, and hiding more than usual. A cat who is still eating can still be in pain.
What Affects the Cost
Every dental is a little different, so the cost depends on what your pet’s mouth needs. The biggest factors are the stage of dental disease, the number and type of extractions (a large multi-rooted molar takes much longer than a tiny front tooth), total time under anesthesia, any extra testing for senior pets, and medications or periodontal gel. We give you an estimate with a range ahead of time and call you if the plan changes. The best way to keep the cost down is to schedule cleanings before problems get advanced, since early dentals mean fewer extractions.
Pick-Up: 3:00 to 5:30 p.m.
Once your pet is awake, we send a photo update and call to share how things went. At pick-up, your technician reviews discharge instructions and answers your questions before bringing your pet out. There will be a small bandage on the leg from the IV catheter, which you can remove once you are home. A sleepy, slightly dramatic evening is normal.
Ready to schedule, or not sure whether your pet needs a dental? Call or text us at (309) 981-5112 or visit our pet dental care page.