Is gas anesthesia the same as general anesthesia for pet dental?

The answer to your questions depend on the health status of the dog and the procedure needed to be done. If the dog is in a good health status, either anesthetic can be fine, even for senior dogs. Only your vet can make the risk assessment for anesthesia.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Precious. The medications given to her before anesthesia will help to keep her calm. Propofol is used to induce anesthesia and then she will breathe gas to keep her under. All of these drugs will lessen her anxiety. I would wait to have the procedure done until all of respiratory signs have resolved. I hope this information helps!

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Most vets today will use a "pre-med" (combination of a pain medication and a sedative) which is often a mix of an opioid and a sedative (often hydromorphone and acepromazine, or some mix of this sort), then an "induction agent" which is usually either propofol, alfaxan, ketamine/diazepam, or ketamine/midazolam, and then will use a gaseous inhalent which is pretty much always isoflurane. Any of these drugs are fine, and often the drug that is best is the drug that your vet is most comfortable using. Thiopental is an 'old school drug' which is less favoured compared to these newer drugs, however it can be used completely safely as well. Doing pre-anaesthetic bloodwork will reduce the risks involved by making sure there is no organ dysfunction prior to surgery. I would suggest just asking your vet how the procedure works, and would check about if IV fluids will be used, what monitoring is present, as the monitoring is probably the most important part of a safe anesthetic, more-so than the type of drug that is used. Best of luck with Lucy!

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Both of these drugs are commonly and safely used in anesthesia for dogs. Often they are combined with other medications or inhaled anesthesia. If you have concerns about anesthesia, I recommend discussing those concerns with Oso's veterinarian. Doing things such as preanesthetic bloodwork and fluid therapy while under anesthesia can help identify or minimize anesthetic risks.

It is never safe to do a non-anesthetic dental, and it should never be preformed on a dog. I can understand your concern, but Daisy does need that loose tooth removed and her teeth cleaned. PetCoach has a great article about why you should never chose non-anesthetic dentals that discusses if anesthesia is safe, and what happens when a pet's mouth is cleaned under anesthesia. I will link the article below so hopefully some of your concerns will be alleviated. As for her breathing, dogs who have a short snout typically breathe better with an ET tube (endotracheal tube) which is used during a dental procedure. I would recommend having it done if your vet feels it's safe, as it will make Daisy so much more comfortable. https://www.petcoach.co/article/what-s-the-deal-with-anesthesia-free-dental-cleanings/0

Hi there. I agree having her teeth cleaned it’s a good idea especially if she has tartar buildup.I would start by having your veterinarian run some general bloodwork to make sure her organ function is good and if everything looks good and her heart is healthy and anesthesia is very safe. Having bad dental health can be more detrimental in the long run and getting this taken care of would be a great idea. Also make sure that wherever you have her teeth cleaned has full monitoring devices and that they do intravenous fluids during the procedure. This is a standard safety measure and you want to go somewhere that has that available. Hope that is helpful and have a wonderful day.

If there is tartar on your pug's teeth, and a bad odor coming from the mouth, he should have a dental cleaning under anesthesia. Dental cleaning without anesthesia is necessary as a lot of the tartar and bacteria are under the gum line causing severe gingivitis and the bacteria to enter the blood stream. I have not met a dog yet that lets us remove tartar under the gum line voluntarily, ie without anesthesia. During the procedure your dog will be intubated to keep water and debris from entering the windpipe and to enable us to deliver the anesthetic gas and oxygen directly to the lungs. So the nose problems do not influence the ability to breathe during gas anesthesia. Brachycephalic dogs such as pugs have a slightly higher anesthetic risk than other dogs, but overall the risk is very low nowadays. Once the teeth have been cleaned you should brush them regularly with a soft brush and enzymatic tooth paste to delay the formation of new tartar. It is not possible to remove existing tartar by way of brushing teeth which is why brushing teeth is useful only after the tartar is removed.