1483. The real carnaissal tooth abscess - 15-year-old Jack Russell

Sep 5, 2014

Today, the real carnaissal tooth abscess Jack Russell of 15 years of age was operated by me.

The owner was supposed to come back 7 days after my first consultation as I had prescribed 7 days of antibiotics and heart disease medication. But she came on the 10th day (today). The oro-nasal fistula was no longer seeping with pus and had closed. So, the young lady did not want the risk of anaesthesia and thought of not taking the surgery to extract the carnaissal tooth. The dog had bad breath now since the teeth were much rotten and the antibiotic (trimethoprim) had been consumed.

"But the facial swelling is still there," the girl's mum said.
"It will come back," I referred to the seeping wound.
It was hard for her. The younger ones are more caring of the old dog and worried more. She wanted to be present at the surgery. "No," I said. "I want to focus 100%, not to be distracted. In any case, I don't permit viewers as the operating room is so small." 

She wanted me to inform her when surgery started. This was after the IV drip with baytril and furesemide. I told her she could wait outside the reception room but she did not turn up.


GAS ANAESTHESIA
The gentle dog was OK for mask anaesthesia as his mouth is not so painful after antibiotics for 7 days. The challenge is when to extract the teeth. Too soon, the dog would feel the pain. Too late, the heart failure might kill the dog. The right carnaissal tooth was loose and I could pull it out easily. The left one was missing as it had dropped out some time ago. 

Four  canine teeth had more than 50% gum attachment gone but they looked solid.
"Dental scaling would be done," my assistant Naing said.

"Actually they are loose at the roots," I gripped the canine tooth with the forceps and gave a twist. The tooth came out easily. A normal canine tooth cannot be twisted or dislodged so easily. It was best for the dog not to have scaled loose canine teeth as they would become infected again.

In all, 11 btownish black teeth were extracted and put inside the plastic bag for the owner as evidence of extraction. . One carnaissal, 3 premolars, 4 canines and 3 incisors. All easily extracted. Much better for the dog to have no teeth than decayed ones with lots of bacteria.

The owners would feel otherwise. "How is the dog going to eat food?" the mother asked. "With rotten painful teeth, the dog just swallows the food rather than chew or bite," I said.

The dog woke up from gas anaesthesia fast and I had to change to a bigger mask. Blood spilled from the holes of the extracted teeth into the mask and the connecting tubes of the anaesthetic machine. Blood came out from the extracted rotten teeth.

The dog survived and was alert as if nothing had happened within 10 minutes of the end of surgery. It was good news. A dead dog is no good for the vet or the owner.

Follow up 2 weeks later revealed that the dog is back to normal with no bad breath, active and eating.  .