Ella from LL (cost of full mouth extraction)

Hello all,

I thought I'd post in health as well as LL as the topic is on dentistry. Ella had a consult today and it appears that she has gingivo-stomatitis. She's never had dental before as her teeth were pretty good until she got diabetes last December. We have a few options for dentistry and this is new territory for me so I thought I'd reach out to see if any of you have had similar experiences.

Our options are this: take her to the vet we saw today and get the xrays and 6-8 extractions and be vigilant about brushing ,if we can. This would involve bringing her in for a yearly cleaning and most likely more extractions OR send her to the certified dentist, one of two specialists in Toronto, and get the whole mouth done. The latter option is supposedly the best to cure stomatitis but there are some instances when it is so bad that a cat still gets it in the end and has to be on chronic pain medication. The first option is a bit more affordable for the time being but after a few rounds of dentistry I'm sure we'll be paying more in the long run. I've never had to deal with dentistry so I'm feeling a bit green right now. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Tamara

 

Re: Ella from LL looking for advice on full mouth extraction

I've had this issue with 2 cats. One lost his teeth bit by bit over the course of several dentals and the other had a full extraction of everything behind her canines at once.

I much prefer the all at once option. Less costly in the long run, fewer times under anesthesia, one healing period, etc.

 

Re: Ella from LL looking for advice on full mouth extraction

Thanks for your response Deanie Did the cat with full extractions recover within a decent amount of time? Is eating difficult for her?

 

Re: Ella from LL looking for advice on full mouth extraction

She was eating normally by the next morning. She has no problems eating, except she can be a little messy and pushes food off of the dish. With a multi-cat household, I can't remember if she did that beforehand or not.

The other cat ended up with only his 2 lower canines and he was really messy. He ate well though.

 

Re: Ella from LL looking for advice on full mouth extraction

I had a cat have all of his teeth taken out because they were so bad when I got him, and he did recover very quickly. Saul, my diabetic boy, had many of his removed and it didn't faze him one bit. If his teeth are really bad now, I think that they are probably already used to a painful mouth. I remember that Ivan was eating normally by the next day, though a little slower since it was harder to gum up all the food.

I was very grateful that all of my old kitty's teeth were removed instead of a few at a time as they got worse. My dog had 4 different extractions of various teeth in 2 years and it was 450-800 a pop, ouch!

 

Re: Ella from LL looking for advice on full mouth extraction

My non diabetic cat GoGo had a lot of resorptive lesions (mouth starts to eat into teeth at the gum line) and had to have all her molars and premolars removed when she was 4 years old. She was on pain meds for about a week while her mouth healed and the vet gave me prefilled syringes of Buprinex (Bubrenorphine) that I squirted into her mouth so it was easy to give. The pain meds really helped and she was able to eat wet food by the next day and dry food after a week. One tooth was still ok but would just have had to have been removed in a year or so and it was better to save her a second surgery. Since the minimum is 6-8 teeth removed and she'll almost certainly need more surgeries in the future I'd go ahead and get them all removed now. Cats do fine with no teeth and she's less likely to suffer from ongoing stomatitis pain/inflamation with the teeth removed so aside from the extra expense now vs later I don't think there's a downside. Check with the dental vet to make sure they agree

 

Re: Ella from LL looking for advice on full mouth extraction

A huge thank you to all who visited our condo to share your personal experiences with me. The thought of Ella losing all her teeth makes me very sad but her health is very important and I really want her to be pain free. It sounds like there are a lot of benefits and I can only hope that Ella is one of the lucky kitties that will be able to recover quickly and be rid of the stomatitis for good.

 

Re: Ella from LL looking for advice on full mouth extraction

If Ella is not exhibiting symptoms of stomatitis (drooling, refusing to eat, pain), a full mouth extraction seems a bit premature and I'd want to explore other options first. The cause of stomatitis is not well understood and treatment is often trial and error but a FME does not guarantee to cure it.

An association has been established between Feline Stomatitis and a specific bacterial organism called Bartonella. In one study, 70% of cats with severe gingivitis/ stomatitis tested positive for this organism. The recommended treatment is a minimum 21-day course of Azithromycin; 28 days is better. It would not be harmful to go ahead and treat without testing. If she responds to the Azithromycin, chances are it was Bartonella. If not, there are still other treatments that are less invasive.

From Catwatch, a newsletter from Cornell Univeristy School of Veterinary Medicine:

Chronic gingivostomatitis (FCGS) is a significant disease of cats causing ulcerative, painful lesions in the mouth. Unfortunately, the cause of this condition is not always clear, but feline calicivirus has been speculated to play a part in some cases. Medical treatment of this condition has largely remained unsuccessful.

Interferon is a protein produced by animals to fight virus infections, and investigators examined the potential of this substance - which can be produced artificially, and given orally - to treat FCGS. Only cats with known FCV were included in the study ("Comparitive efficiacy of a recombinant feline interferon omega in refractory cases of calicivirus-positive cats with caudal stomatitis; a randomized, multi centre, controlled double-blind study in 39 cats," Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, 2011).

They compared cats that were treated with anti-inflammatory drugs, and clinical signs - including pain - were assessed for 90 days. The investigators found that treatment with topically applied (oral) interferon daily led to improvement in both the clinical appearance of the lesions, as well as pain scores, comparable to anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs. Interferon may be an appropriate treatment for FCGS related to feline calicivirus infection.

 

Re: Ella from LL looking for advice on full mouth extraction

Hi Deborah,

Thanks so much for your informative response. Ella is still eating although not as much, and has taken to doing so off her paw. I believe she is doing this because she is in pain. When you touch the sides of her mouth her jaw chatters and her gums are very red. I have caught her drooling and her breath smells awful!
We don't have to do full extractions. It was also suggested that we could pull the worst teeth and then brush twice a day and continue with yearly check ups which would probably entail more extractions down the road. The vet said her bottoms looked bad and supposedly when you pull bottoms the top teeth can cause irratation to the bottom gumline, resulting in a whole new set of problems. We will be going for a consult with the specialist next week and will talk about treatment options. Ella has not been herself for weeks. She hardly purrs and gets easily agitated. She is quite lethargic and her pain threshold for her shots and pokies has decreased to the point that she sometimes growls at me. Hopefully we can get a better diagnosis with the specialist so we can make the best decision for her.

Thanks again for visiting.
Tamara

 

Re: Ella from LL looking for advice on full mouth extraction

My darling GA, Fuzz, had severe gingivitis/stomatitus and required a full dental extraction. It was done all at once at the Atlantic Vet College in PEI, Canada. Fuzz made a full recovery and lived 12 years after that, she still ate her beloved crunchies whenever I would give them to her and would chomp quite merrily on a piece of steak whenever offered. I never regretted the decision for a minute. Given the choice between a toothless cat and a dead cat - where Fuzz was well on her way b/c she suffered anorexia from the mouth pain - well I'll take the toothless cat any day and LOVED each and every minute of the 17 loved filled years she and I spent together. Best of luck to you and Ella.
Shirley

 

Re: Ella from LL looking for advice on full mouth extraction

My civilian cat Mauser has only a couple teeth left. He eats a bit slower than the other cats, and if I give cut up chicken etc, I have to make sure the pieces are small -- like the size of small peas or less than 1/4". One time, he got a piece that was about 1/4"x1/4"x 1/2" and he choked a bit on it as he tried to swallow it whole.

he is fine eating the low carb pates and he gets some Blue Buffalo Wilderness crunchies once in a while with no problems.

 

Hello everyone,

Thanks to all who visited to share their personal experiences with full mouth extractions. Would those of you that have had FME for you cat please pm me with an estimated cost. The specialist we are going to see is quite expensive and it would be interesting to know what others have paid

Thanks so much!

Tamara