Canine Root Canal-What would you do?

My landlord did a root canal on her Poodles front tooth when she "superman-d" off a grooming table onto a concrete floor. Might have been a "pulpectomy" or something. They knew they couldn't cap it, they just wanted to save what was left of the tooth. She still has the tooth, it's just half the length of the rest.

I personally would just have the teeth pulled. I'm not putting more money into my dogs mouth than I would into mine, and what kind of vet tried that guilt nonsense? Argh.
 
We already talked about this :)

But the dentist-wife in me wants to just scream at the vet for saying that extracting a tooth is like cutting your leg off. That is ridiculous. Do you know how many PEOPLE (not dogs, PEOPLE) have teeth extracted every day? My husband does more extractions than root canals for a lot of reasons. Money is one, and maintenance & comfort is another. To suggest that my husband does the equivalent of cutting peoples' legs off is absurd. 100 people out of 100 who get extractions thank him afterwards. Pain is minimal and short-lived, it's basically maintenance free, and pain is permanently relieved.

Also--as an aside, are slab fractures common? Sounds like just on this forum alone 4-5 of us have had dogs with slab fractures on the 4th pre-molar! Is it a dog thing? Or a genetic sheltie thing?
 
corbinam said:
We already talked about this :)

But the dentist-wife in me wants to just scream at the vet for saying that extracting a tooth is like cutting your leg off. That is ridiculous. Do you know how many PEOPLE (not dogs, PEOPLE) have teeth extracted every day? My husband does more extractions than root canals for a lot of reasons. Money is one, and maintenance & comfort is another. To suggest that my husband does the equivalent of cutting peoples' legs off is absurd. 100 people out of 100 who get extractions thank him afterwards. Pain is minimal and short-lived, it's basically maintenance free, and pain is permanently relieved.

Also--as an aside, are slab fractures common? Sounds like just on this forum alone 4-5 of us have had dogs with slab fractures on the 4th pre-molar! Is it a dog thing? Or a genetic sheltie thing?
Click to expand...

Thanks Ashley! I appreciate your response both today and last night.
I know the Vets comments that I had contacted about the root canal really bothered me. And telling me its a matter of how much my dog means to me really got me fuming!!! when I hung up the phone. I let it get to me. I am really glad I posted this today because I am feeling so much better.
 
corbinam said:
We already talked about this :)

But the dentist-wife in me wants to just scream at the vet for saying that extracting a tooth is like cutting your leg off. That is ridiculous. Do you know how many PEOPLE (not dogs, PEOPLE) have teeth extracted every day? My husband does more extractions than root canals for a lot of reasons. Money is one, and maintenance & comfort is another. To suggest that my husband does the equivalent of cutting peoples' legs off is absurd. 100 people out of 100 who get extractions thank him afterwards. Pain is minimal and short-lived, it's basically maintenance free, and pain is permanently relieved.

Also--as an aside, are slab fractures common? Sounds like just on this forum alone 4-5 of us have had dogs with slab fractures on the 4th pre-molar! Is it a dog thing? Or a genetic sheltie thing?
Click to expand...

They are not uncommon, seem to be more common in shelties. Almost never see it in Labs and they chew on rocks and get the flat cow looking teeth but they almost never break. So I think yes genetics play a role.

I was also thinking I could barely afford to paid 3000 for my own teeth with no insurance let alone my dogs' teeth.
 
Emma had to have four of her bottom canines removed. This has not affected her at all. Given the choice, I would opt for an extraction for my dog and myself. I had a molar extracted - never missed it. It wasn't a molar Emma had out but I would have done the same regardless. It just doesn't make sense to spend that much money with the chances of having to have it extracted at some point in the future.
 
Tinsel has had many of his teeth removed. Phoebe has had a couple due to hyperplasia. Dog teeth are easier to extract than cat teeth as they don't tend to be brittle and we have removed many cat teeth in my days at the clinic. We were always less concerned if a dog was coming in for dentistry. Most dogs over the age of 8 have one or two teeth removed due to gingivitis. It never used to be that way but for whatever reason, it is now. I always laugh because my problems started after I stopped feeding the dogs food with ethoxiquin - go figure.
Having said all that, there is a real possibility of the caps coming off and gum infections with root canal.
So, for my money, I would remove the teeth.
 
Thank you for the feedback! Thanks so much! I cant express the huge weight of guilt you have all taken off my back!
 
=The specialist made the reference that if you had a broken leg you would fix it and not cut it off. And I guess my decision depends on how important my dog is to me=

Those who know me here know that I do not interfere with cases I have not seen. Without speaking to the veterinarian involved there are often communication issues, and if we were all in the same room we could sort things out. Perhaps I sometimes come off as a veterinary apologist, but that is only because I have been on the other side of the 'the doctor on the internet said' about my cases of which they have no knowledge.

However, all that having been said, speaking as a veterinarian of forty year's experience, if this is indeed a correct quotation, that is an absolutely inexcusable thing to say and if a specialist said something like that to my client I assure you he would be hearing from me, and it would not be pleasant.
You have absolutely no reason to feel guilty, the course you chose was entirely reasonable.
 
Always love to get your take on the situation Dr. Mac. Unfortunately there are a few too many vets out there that use a form of subtle guilting that encourages clients to spend more than they have. I even had the occasion to see a vet tell a client there is a special charge card they can get so that they could cover an expensive surgery that you could see they couldn't afford. The people were elderly and I wanted so bad to intervene. Still feel bad that I didn't take them aside. Thanks for you input - it helps when faced with these kinds of decisions.
 
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