After being on the waiting list to see a dental specialist, Dr. C., we got a call from his office that there was an immediate opening on Friday morning! My husband, Tora, and I visited Dr. C. for a consultation right away. We must have been lucky to visit him on that day since it was his “off-surgery” day. He spent 1.75 hrs with us going through Tora’s dental x-rays that we brought over, examining his mouth visually, and discussed how we best proceed from here. Frankly, the information he gave us was so overwhelmingly rich and vast (as in quantity), our heads were spinning so fast by the end.

He started out with how the dental professionals are all trained to take X-rays in a specific universal direction, so that anyone can see the image in the “right” direction. Obviously, our previous dental vet (or tech) didn’t seem to be aware of the universal rule that all images should follow a certain orientation. In all Tora’s x-ray images, the marker (which shows only one direction – toward a nose) on each image was random in direction – that indicated that either x-ray discs were faults at the manufacturer when they were made, or the previous dental vet (or tech) was ignorant about this universal rule.

Another finding was that when Lower Right two molars extracted and sutured for the second time, the sutures didn’t hold/last. They seem to be healing over, but without the closure. We’re not sure why the sutures didn’t hold, but likely because when closing them, the skin was too tight and the pull too great. It’s also possible that Tora rubbed them and caused them to open. Thankfully at least today’s vet wasn’t worried about them. He said he would have done them differently (and better), but they seem like they will heal fully.

One of the biggest things we found out was about Tora’s canine tooth – the one wrongly extracted – was not sealed properly, yet. The extraction site is somewhat raw down there to the bone. It is trying to heal itself, but it is taking long time because food bits might have gotten in the hole etc. He suggested that It needs to be cleaned up everyday with peroxide soaked Q-tip (twice a day). In this process, “the hole” gets agitated and tightens the area, so that the healthy healing happens quicker. We are doing this once a day – that’s all Tora can tolerate. For the first run, he screamed so much that we felt so bad. It’s a two-persons job. Tora became burrito kitty. Jeffrey and I will be better team with practice, I hope.

From the x-rays, Dr. C. could tell that there were no bone fragments or root left on any extraction sites. That was a good news. He wants to see Tora’s canine tooth heals properly first. So, we will do peroxide-Qtip regimen for 10 days before next appointment. After that, we will visit him for the “correct” canine extraction. Dr. C. can see Tora has periodontal disease on-going, so he might need more extractions in a couple years – warned us it is up to us to make a decision as to extract one by one as Tora feels pain, or to extract all his teeth at once. Any experiences, opinions, anybody?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We felt very comfortable with Dr.C. moving forward. We all agreed on our priority – that is Tora recovers fully before next “correct” surgery. As I am typing this update, Tora is sleeping in my office. I wonder what he is dreaming about… Tora is not fully back to himself, “play-boy” yet. Mikan is patiently waiting for him to play with her. Healing takes time…