Expert: Jessica - 6/6/2010

Question
I work for a vets office. I have an Abyssinian  who has gingivitis/ periodontal disease. He had a dental less than 6 months ago lost some teeth, We are going to do a dental on Monday. I want your opinion. Is it mean/wrong to ask my vet to be pro active and do extractions on the majority or all remaining teeth. If his teeth are really bad I'd rather have them all removed at once. Is that horrible????????? Please help!

Answer
Hi Sarah.  In my opinion, absolutely not wrong.  Abyssinians are prone to the oral disease, stomatitis, and judging by the fact that your kitty had a dental just six months ago and now needs to have another one for more periodontal disease, I'd suspect this is what he is dealing with.  As you may know, this disease is caused by an over-reaction to bacteria in the mouth, it seems, and bacteria are found in large numbers on the teeth (plaque).  The only way known to permanently and effectively treat stomatitis is to remove ALL the teeth, except the canines in some cases.  

I know some vets like to try to preserve as many "good" teeth as possible.  But I've gone this route several times, and the teeth never last very long.  The cat is always in pain again within a few months, and another quite expensive dental procedure is always required, followed by another quite painful recovery.

A full mouth extraction IS painful, there is no doubt about that.  But your vet can prescribe effective pain relievers, such as buprenorphine (Buprenex) or butorphanol (Torbutrol), or if the vet is specially licensed, a Fentanyl pain patch.  Several of my cats have had full mouth extractions, and all have come through them fine.  I have found them far better for the cats than going through multiple oral surgeries to ultimately fix the problem.

Occasionally, there are a couple of healthy teeth that are still too deeply rooted for the vets to safely remove.  For example, the cat may be under anesthesia for an extended period of time trying to extract that tooth, and the risk of keeping him under anesthesia for that long outweighs the risk of leaving the tooth in.  In this case, we just hope the tooth won't give him problems.  But generally, your vet should not have a problem removing all your cat's teeth when there is persistent oral disease.  And I think for the cat's sake, it's the right thing to do.

Good luck!

Jessica