# Cost of dental exams



## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

How much do you usually pay for a full mouth cleaning with an anesthetic and scaling? Does your dentist also quote a price with extractions included? If they talk about extractions are they more likely to want to do them? Can an owner tell by inspection in advance if a tooth needs to come out?


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

I don't have an answer to this particular question but can give you a tip to prevent bad teeth after a professional cleaning and that is to give him a raw turkey neck twice a week. Maybe brush his teeth after a kibble meal. Or consider a raw diet. My dogs who have been on raw never needed cleaning. 
Before feeding raw some had more tartar build-up than others. I scaled their teeth myself with used tools from my own dentist. it requires some training for the dog though.


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## tc68 (May 31, 2006)

I also don't have an answer. Both dogs of mine gnaw(ed) on antlers daily. My previous one used to do it right after his dinner meal for about 20 mins. The current one gnaws about 15 mins in the evening. My vet used to ask me, "do you brush his teeth everyday? they're so clean." His whole life I brushed his teeth a handful of times...all before he started gnawing on antlers. Had great teeth and gums 'til the day he died. At the end of his life, his teeth were a little ground down but his teeth were white, gums were healthy, and they ere functional. The current one doesn't gnaw on antlers as much as the previous one but enough so that I don't have to do anything else. Both dogs love me holding the antler for them....another bonding experience. Not saying that you should switch to antlers but it works/worked for me.


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

The veterinarians all have different prices even in the same town depending on their expenses and those prices can really range. They should be able to give you a estimate of cost.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

LuvShepherds said:


> How much do you usually pay for a full mouth cleaning with an anesthetic and scaling? Does your dentist also quote a price with extractions included? If they talk about extractions are they more likely to want to do them? Can an owner tell by inspection in advance if a tooth needs to come out?



There's no rhyme or reason to dental cleaning pricing. I've seen discount clinics advertise $200 without xrays, and known people to pay $500. A few years ago, I paid my regular vet (generalist) about $300 dollars for a 50 pound dog, without any discounts--they have to do bloodwork for anesthesia if none has been done withing 30 days, so I can save about $100 next time by scheduling a dental cleaning within a month of my dog's annual check-up, so that we can re-use the annual bloodwork. (My vet included xrays in that price.)

My kibble-fed dogs need cleanings about every 3-ish years so long as they're chewing trachea tubes, bully sticks, and an occasional frozen chicken thigh. We can tell when it's coming due by looking at the tartar buld-up on the back molars. I've never had one of mine need an extraction during a cleaning (we've had some tooth injuries that we dealt with separately at a vet dentist though). FWIW, little dogs seem to need them far more frequently (and some breeds of little dogs just seem to have rampant tooth issues genetically).

A vet dentist would usually charge far more for a cleaning than a generalist. However, I've had very cheap cleanings added on to other dental work at the vet dentist (e.g., if they're already going in for a root canal for a damaged tooth, if I add on a dental cleaning it's something like $100 more -- that's 100% worth doing if a dog would need a cleaning in the next year or so anyway).

I don't believe that you can _necessarily_ look at a tooth and rule out all problems visually. When you go for a teeth cleaning yourself, they take xrays to spot cavities and other damage to your teeth -- the vet may use xrays the same way. They also may find stuff by probing during the cleaning. Theyr'e also carefully inspecting the inside of the mouth for other things (including oral cancer), which isn't usually possible during a regular exam.


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## RoseW (Feb 18, 2016)

Price of the procedure tends to vary by region, and could be anywhere from $250-$1000. Some clinics have an extraction charge per tooth/tooth type while others may charge based on the general time and difficulty. If clinics vary within a smaller area it may be due to the operating procedures (basic anesthesia monitoring and general dentistry experience vs pre-op bloodwork, extensive anesthesia monitoring, dental radiograghs, and advanced dentistry experience). If a dog has really bad teeth a vet may be able to give a guesstimate on number of extractions and add that to an estimate for the cost of procedure, otherwise it can be difficult to tell exactly if extractions are needed until a dog in under anesthesia and after periodontal probing and/or dental radiograghs. Many vets I've known have been willing to call during the procedure once they've done their full exam to discuss the exact number of extractions that they would recommend to get a final appropval if its more than expected or quoted for.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

I think the "specials" on dental cleanings tend to be in Feb., if that makes any difference for anybody. It's "dental month," so it's not uncommon to see things signs or ads for 20% the procedure (i.e., excluding bloodwork and xrays) at some clinics.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

Ours is on the high end. More than mentioned here. Raw makes sense. I am sure the tartar is from kibble. It hasn’t gotten any worse since I took her off kibble, but I had to take away bones and chewers when she started bleeding. We weren’t sure what caused it. She has only been off kibble a few months. She has soft toys she chews on but that doesn’t stop brown tartar from forming.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

RoseW said:


> Price of the procedure tends to vary by region, and could be anywhere from $250-$1000. Some clinics have an extraction charge per tooth/tooth type while others may charge based on the general time and difficulty. If clinics vary within a smaller area it may be due to the operating procedures (basic anesthesia monitoring and general dentistry experience vs pre-op bloodwork, extensive anesthesia monitoring, dental radiograghs, and advanced dentistry experience). If a dog has really bad teeth a vet may be able to give a guesstimate on number of extractions and add that to an estimate for the cost of procedure, otherwise it can be difficult to tell exactly if extractions are needed until a dog in under anesthesia and after periodontal probing and/or dental radiograghs. Many vets I've known have been willing to call during the procedure once they've done their full exam to discuss the exact number of extractions that they would recommend to get a final appropval if its more than expected or quoted for.


I was quoted $800 to $1600 or more depending on extractions but that includes another complete blood panel because the one we had earlier this year is out of date. If I had known, I would have done it then. They are going to call and let us decide if any extractions are needed. If a tooth can’t be saved, we would extract, but if they aren’t sure, we won’t. Her teeth just look dirty, not decayed, but she has a few brown spots on the surface that I want removed. A year ago the vet said she didn’t need a cleaning. Since we stopped giving bones and hard chewers, the stain is worse.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

If gums bleed it's the first sign of gingivitis and she probably needs a cleaning. If her teeth are cleaned, you should be able to maintain it with meaty bones


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

I’m so glad I took her in for a cleaning. They did xrays and found cracks which we saw clearly on the xrays, most likely caused by bones or chewers. They extracted the broken tooth and sent the xrays for the others to a dental vet. They were able to save the rest. We may have to have another taken out later but for now I’m so glad I put my worries aside and had it taken care of. The cracked tooth wasn’t visible to the eye but was clearly apparent on the images. They also said no more bones. She is a vigorous chewer and it was too much impact. Fortunately the most important teeth were not affected.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

The cost was also substantially lower than the estimate. The estimate was worst case.


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## crittersitter (Mar 31, 2011)

https://www.chewy.com/proden-plaqueoff-powder-dog-cat/dp/132175 works. I have never had to have a dental cleaning on a GSD. Only small dogs.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

I appreciate all the inputs but I knew something was wrong. Her ears are fine and she had been shaking her head and snappish. She was in pain for a while but because she hid it, I did not catch on right away. I’m glad all these remedies work for other dogs but each one is unique and nothing worked for her. I tried brushing her teeth and using a green gel I got a few years back and they did nothing. All the cleaners I could find would not fix cracks.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Sigh. Beau at 8 is going to need his 2nd cleaning. We started having gum bleeding with the reward tugs and there is a bit of plaque around an upper molar. I wish, as a puppy, I had him better trained for teeth cleaning/mouth management. 

Tilly on same diet same chewing has zero problems with this. After the super expensive annual visit with the senior blood panel and urinalysis and, at my request, the NC state tick serology panel (they are in the woods a lot and I worry about missing deer ticks and small seed ticks)


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## graciesmom (Jun 10, 2006)

I just got an estimate for our boy, Jake. Jake is a golden retriever, we think he is around 5 years old, we adopted him from a rescue 3 years ago. The estimate is for a stage 2-3 dental clean, dental xray full set, and anesthesia. We are having this done while he is under anesthesia for a small lump removal. The estimate is $850 at the low end and $1203 at the high end. Oh and if we book it within 30 days, we get 10% off. Jake is raw fed and is an aggressive chewer. This is the first dog I've had to have a dental clean done. I'll be booking it next week. We'll see how it goes.


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## LeoRose (Jan 10, 2013)

My pittie had a dental cleaning with the extraction of a single tooth (no blood work or x-rays), and the total was about $125. From what I've heard from acquaintances around the country, that is an enviably low cost.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

LuvShepherds said:


> How much do you usually pay for a full mouth cleaning with an anesthetic and scaling? Does your dentist also quote a price with extractions included? If they talk about extractions are they more likely to want to do them? Can an owner tell by inspection in advance if a tooth needs to come out?


I don't know about the general scaling but it was close to $1000 several years ago for our senior boxer to have most of her teeth taken out.

No, you can not tell if all teeth are bad just by exam. When I had the cat's cleaned there were 4 loose teeth that weren't bad but not really attached, plus one molar that looked ok on the surface but was bad at the gum line.

My vets have never expressed concern over my shepherds. He said that the short muzzled animals like Boxers and Himilayans are more prone to bad teeth. My shepherds get a raw diet and their teeth never needed to be cleaned. 

If you don't feed raw, consider things like chicken or duck feet. Duck necks that provide a little more cleaning but not a huge bone. Or lamb necks. I like those too. The bone is porous and they can break it up. Frozen raw tracheas are good as well. Even starting now will clean their teeth up prior to a dental cleaning and possibly you can avoid one.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

LuvShepherds said:


> I was quoted $800 to $1600 or more depending on extractions but that includes another complete blood panel because the one we had earlier this year is out of date. If I had known, I would have done it then. They are going to call and let us decide if any extractions are needed. If a tooth can’t be saved, we would extract, but if they aren’t sure, we won’t. Her teeth just look dirty, not decayed, but she has a few brown spots on the surface that I want removed. A year ago the vet said she didn’t need a cleaning. Since we stopped giving bones and hard chewers, the stain is worse.


gums bleed for different reasons. You could try the frozen raw tracheas. it's hard enough to scrape teeth but not hard enough to break them. They have to tear at it and it will soften as it thaws (which is quickly). 

Or softer bones like the duck necks.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

Jax08 said:


> gums bleed for different reasons. You could try the frozen raw tracheas. it's hard enough to scrape teeth but not hard enough to break them. They have to tear at it and it will soften as it thaws (which is quickly).
> 
> Or softer bones like the duck necks.


Thanks. I will when her teeth have recovered. They still want to remove an eye tooth because the root looks involved but I don’t want to put her through that again. I really don’t know what to do. All my GSD friends have said don’t do it but the vet thinks she will have worse problems if we don’t.

I do feed raw now but have been giving her THK due to her other problems. It seems gentler.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

LeoRose said:


> My pittie had a dental cleaning with the extraction of a single tooth (no blood work or x-rays), and the total was about $125. From what I've heard from acquaintances around the country, that is an enviably low cost.


Very low. The senior panel and the xrays alone were more than that.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

LuvShepherds said:


> Thanks. I will when her teeth have recovered. They still want to remove an eye tooth because the root looks involved but I don’t want to put her through that again. I really don’t know what to do. All my GSD friends have said don’t do it but the vet thinks she will have worse problems if we don’t.
> 
> I do feed raw now but have been giving her THK due to her other problems. It seems gentler.


maybe just wait and see? Or find an actual veterinary dentist specialist? I've always resisted knocking them out for a teeth cleaning. Makes me nervous. How old is she?


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

Jax08 said:


> maybe just wait and see? Or find an actual veterinary dentist specialist? I've always resisted knocking them out for a teeth cleaning. Makes me nervous. How old is she?


9 and I am nervous too. Since they made her wait anyway, I’m thinking of waiting for something more serious before we do this. It will be more expensive but in the end better for her.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I would wait too. The tooth might be fine the rest of her life.

I had one dog with a slab fracture. My vet told me to leave it unless there was an issue. And vet dentists are hard to find. I think my friend ended up in Buffalo hours from home when there was an emergency.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

We have an emergency hospital with all the specialists if it’s urgent. If they don’t have someone on, they call them in from anywhere in the area.

What is a slab fracture?


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

It's a fracture that is top to bottom on a tooth that takes a "slab" out of it. I have one in an upper molar from grinding my teeth at night.

canine slab fracture









molar slab fracture


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