Oh the Teeth!

I mentioned my concern regarding Bella's topped teeth here. And as in all good serendipity, this concern was recently followed by a couple of articles by a local vet in our paper. One was on appropriate chew toys and the other on teeth cleaning. They both just served to focus my attention.

With Lucy, our last dog, I learned through adversity, that teeth cleaning was important. She never had teeth problems, but she had a horrible time with the anesthesia and/or other drugs they gave her during the procedure. She'd stagger around the house crying for hours after the surgery. It was awful. I vowed to be more diligent about this area of doggie maintenance with my next dog. Enter Bella, stage left. I brush her teeth about 5-6 days out of the week. I've never been able to do a very thorough job and noticed some tartar (?) or plaque (?) build up despite my diligence, but it was also how I discovered her "tipped" teeth.

As far as toys go, Bella is a Supreme Chewer. I am one the PetsMart Faithfuls. Every couple of weeks I'm there stocking up on new chew toys. I haven't given her rawhide as I've heard it isn't very digestible. Bones are from the local organic store and thought those would be okay. Nope. No more bones. I recently learned that ice cubes are also on the doggie hit list. (Bella rushes to the refrigerator when the freezer door opens in hopes a cube is in her future. We shall substitute those silly baby carrots instead—organic, of course).

Tennis balls? Those are what she lives for. Scratch! I guess too much dirt stays in the fuzz and can erode their teeth. Back to Petsmart for those stupidly expensive, non-fuzzy Chuck-it balls. After just a short amount of chucking, I must admit to liking them though. They are much more "lively" than a tennis ball and as long as it is round, rolls and bounces, Bella is happy. Hopefully I won't lose one in the bushes!  And price? Well, even though they are expensive, they are a lot cheaper than doggie dental surgery!

I had stopped by the vet's office to pick up more tooth brushes and paste and my vet urged me to come in for a quick exam. In a brief look around Bella's mouth, she said that Bella's broken off incisor showed exposed root and needed to be removed. She also feared the root could be exposed on the tipped canine, but was uncertain about the premolar and molar and would check all three of those when Bella goes in next week for a cleaning and extraction. (If you're curious, here is a series of good pictures on dogs' teeth.)

The vet went on to say that hopefully all Bella needed on the canine was a root canal and not an extraction as that was an "extremely invasive surgery." Please interject an expletive from me here. Here I was hoping all was well and now find myself hoping for a root canal for my sweet girl?

The initial clean and extraction is next week. I'm uncertain when Part II (root canal) will take place. Keep your fingers crossed for Bella!