Dental implants for cats?

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HereKittyKittyKitty

HereKittyKittyKitty

Member Since 2016
Is there such a thing as dental implants for cats? My cat's teeth have really deteriorated on the wet food, and given his age, he'll likely spend a lot of years with few/no teeth :(

So... what about when the vet puts him under to clean/extract teeth, why not extract them all and put in implants that can't rot on the wet food, so he can have good teeth for his whole life?

Thanks, in advance.
 
I personally had 2 implants ( both of which failed causing peri-implantitis after 10 years). In my case I had to have bone grafting done first (general surgery) since there was not enough bone to hold the implant post. Then wait two months to make sure the graft had taken. Then have the implant posts put in (IV sedation) and wait another two months for the actual crowns to be installed. This required dental x-rays at each step. I don't know whether the same procedure would be followed with a kitty, but for a person it is a long drawn out procedure ( and expensive). I personally can't see the benefits of doing this for a kitty. My 18 year kitty has only a few teeth left and is able to eat very well. She is even able to eat dry food..although I do not give that to her unless her glucose is very low and she won't eat MC or HC wet food. A lot of money and stress for the kitty with very little gain IMHO
 
My daughters 10 month old kitty had to have 13 of her back teeth out because all her teeth had budded and were all double teeth which caused major problems with infection and inflammation. Once she had recovered from the surgery she has had no problems at all with eating a raw home prepared diet which consists of several varieties of meat cut up into small, but not tiny pieces.
Last week she got up onto the table where I had some chicken gizzards....those really tough things ....and she took one and I found her under the table having a wonderful time gnawing through it. She is now 2 1/2 years old and is managing fine with only her front teeth.
Also I don't think that wet food leads to bad teeth.....it is a myth that kibble cleans cats teeth.
Giving raw bones for them to gnaw on will help clean their theeth.
I clean my cat Harry's teeth every night with a cat toothbrush.
 
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The only cats I have ever had that had bad teeth were this one, and one that lived to be 19 1/2. The old cat had good teeth until I had to start feeding him wet food because he wouldn't eat the dry at all or without throwing up, sometime about 18-19 years old. My current cat's teeth were beautiful on the dry food, but have deteriorated on the wet. All of the other cats I've had were fed dry, and all of their teeth were great. On the last visit, the vet said the cat needed a dental cleaning and (probably) extractions, and it was because of the switch to wet food :arghh: BTW, my cat will absolutely not let me brush his teeth :(

So what happens if I just let the teeth go and fall out on their own over time? Assuming there's no infection...
 
As others have said, cats usually manage to eat just fine with few or no teeth. I would imagine that implants would be prohibitively expensive, not to mention having to put a kitty through the various stages that Mary Ann describes above. I don't think I'd consider it for my cat.
It's certainly a good idea though to be aware of your kitty's dental health. Infections can cause high blood glucose as well as other problems. So regular dentals might be the way to go.
 
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