Yoda is a 16 years and 7 months old Chihuahua who presented to our hospital for swelling under his left eye and not eating as much.
Physical examination showed that there was mild gingivitis and grade 3 heart murmur as well.
It appeared to be most likely from tooth root abscess and dental procedure with probable tooth extraction was recommended.
Yoda’s parents told me that he already had dental cleaning 7 months ago and had multiple extractions.
Because of his age and heart disease they wanted to try conservative way of treatment first.
However, the symptoms did not improve much with antibiotics and pain medicine so we scheduled his dental procedure including bloodwork and full mouth x-ray with probable tooth extraction.
Previous dental cleaning was not done with dental x-ray nor bloodwork.
Preanesthetic bloodwork revealed his liver enzyme was elevated but overall within normal limits.
There was mild gingivitis with mild recessed gumline where Yoda had swelling over but no significantly deep gingival pocket noted on through oral exam.
However, we were shocked to find there was a fractured tooth root under the gumline once we took dental x-ray. Yoda needed an extraction and recovered smoothly. Above is the x-ray image.
I would have not known about the broken tooth root without taking an x-ray.
This is why it is important to have dental x-ray done with dental prophylaxis. We also started Yoda on liver supplement and will check the level again soon.
Yoda is doing well at home.
