Does this mean an ER visit? Tommy is fine #15

**rg_girlca** · 09-12-2012, 09:45 PM

Fortunately this doesn't require a trip to the ER. My Poppy also lost a fang last year and I just brought him to my regular vet. Unfortunately his broke off and the root was still in the gum, so he had to have that removed. But while he was under he got his teeth cleaned and he did just fine. I'm sure your Tommy will also.

**krazyaboutkatz** · 09-13-2012, 01:44 AM

I'm sorry to hear that he lost his tooth.

Hopefully his vet visit will go well and the rest of his teeth are fine. Good luck.

My cat Sky's upper canine is slightly chipped. My vet said that it's nothing to worry about yet but in the future he may need to have it extracted.

**Barbara** · 09-13-2012, 08:25 AM

Filou lost a fang once and we never found it. We do not know exactly how long it took us to even notice (he didn't smile with his tip of fangs out

). Anyway once the vet saw it she was purrfectly fine with it. No need to interfere. Hope it goes just as well with Tommy.

**Jessika** · 09-13-2012, 10:56 AM

That looks like the entire canine tooth, root and all. The canine is a single rooted tooth, and the largest rooted tooth (the root is typically 2/3 the size of the entire tooth itself). My only concern would be infection; a tooth that comes out WHOLE with no breakage often indicates there was infection present in the first place that broke down the ligaments and attachments. It wouldn't hurt to swing by the vet just to make sure there isn't infection present and, since the canine is the largest rooted tooth and leaves the largest hole in the gum/jaw, I would make sure there is nothing stuck up in there and make sure it doesn't need to be sutured closed, but I would not consider it an ER visit.

Good luck... and a side-note, drooling is often a sign of oral pain in cats.

Originally Posted by kuhio98

Their teeth are so tiny, but our vet charges about $100 a tooth for an extraction.

:O That is crazy! Even canine 3-root teeth extractions we certainly don't charge anywhere near $100 per extraction!!! Or very often our cat FORL dental or greyhound dentals would cost over a thousand dollars!!!!!

**Freedom** · 09-13-2012, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by Jessika

Good luck... and a side-note, drooling is often a sign of oral pain in cats.

:O That is crazy! Even canine 3-root teeth extractions we certainly don't charge anywhere near $100 per extraction!!! Or very often our cat FORL dental or greyhound dentals would cost over a thousand dollars!!!!!

I knew the drooling was an issue, which is why I picked him up in the first place, lol. And having just been through it with Willy, my vet charges $126 per tooth for extractions, up to the first 5, then it drops to $100 for the next 5. OK, back to Tommy:

Tommy saw the vet this morning. He had a shot of Convenia for antibiotics, and a shot of (I forget!) for inflammation. The vet said in this case (no roots, no bleeding) we were fine to wait till this morning. Tommy probably was not comfortable and was feeling it, but not too bad and both the shots will help him feel better. She expected to see a mouth full of tartar and plaque as that is normally the case when a tooth drops out -- but no, the rest of his teeth look good! So it is odd. He has a bit of tartar, nothing unusual for a 5 year old cat, and better than many.

My vet said / agreed with much of what I'd learned on here last night from many of you. It didn't need an ER trip; the canine is at least half up in the gum, and half showing; usually the tooth breaks off and because so much of it is under the gum, the vets have a time of it digging around to get the rest out so we were lucky it came out whole; and lucky he didn't swallow it, lol. And yes he DID save me money by having it drop out like this. So kudos to all who provided insight.

It sure was a shocker when that tooth dropped and hit the table last night, ha haa.

Thanks everyone!