Ripley was a month shy of his 11th birthday when he had his dental done.

One thing that we had done before he went under was a blood screen. We had tried to have his teeth cleaned a year earlier but the blood test showed his liver and kidney functions were too low to risk putting him under. They sent him home with some antibiotics and told us to try again later. He then got very sick with a URI he caught from Jazz when we first adopted her. That URI then triggered an underlying blood infection and the poor boy almost died. He was at the vet for 8 days total and then still had to go back for daily antibiotic injections another 5 days. My vet felt that the blood infection was caused by his teeth and gums so as soon as he was well enough, about 3 1/2 months later, we had that dental done on him. His blood test still showed his liver function was a little low but the vet felt it was worth the risk and went ahead. Like I said in the other post, he did great.

Hope this helps and doens't worry you more. I don't mean to.