My dog's teeth broke at the vet. Is she in pain? What should I do?

Question

Dear Vet Am so concerned about my 9yrs female golden Ret. several tooth has been broken due to her stay at the vets clinic in a cage before her pyometra surgery which was 13 days ago and I am very upset because they didn't take care of her!!! They told me she didn't like the cage and she wanted to go out. Her lips were full of blood and scratched and now I noticed her tooth almost all are broken!!! Is it an emergency matter? Is she in pain? Although she is eating dry food regularly please help. Pet's info: Dog | Golden Retriever | Female | unspayed | 8 years and 11 months old | 58 lbs

Kevin Sanada, DVM · Accepted Answer

I'm sorry to hear about this. The biggest concern with broken teeth is if the tooth root is exposed. This is not an emergency, but is painful and makes the teeth and roots susceptible to infection. In some cases the teeth can be repaired by a veterinary dentistry specialist, but in most cases they would have to be extracted. Considering this happened at the veterinary office, they should take some responsibility. I also understand that this would have been a difficult situation to control for the vet clinic and there may have been some broken teeth or dental disease prior to this incident. In these cases, I recommend talking with the veterinary practice owner and expressing your concerns and how you would like to be compensated. I understand that you must be very upset with them, but these matters can get much worse if you involve other people rather than communicating directly with the people in charge. It's best to talk with them directly as best as you can. I can tell you from experience that the clients that approach these issues calmly and reasonably with their concerns have more favorable outcomes. Give them a chance to explain their perspective and allow them to do the right thing (apologize and offer treatment for the teeth) on their own. Also, please understand that these are people too...who will occasionally make mistakes. I'm sure they did not want this to happen and I'm sure they feel bad about it. If talking with them does not work, or you feel that they did not give you a satisfactory response after giving them the opportunity, then the next step would be to take Mouch to another veterinarian for an outside opinion. They can give a non-biased evaluation of the problem and help you pursue compensation (if needed). You may also consider talking with the local veterinary council/board if you feel that the vet clinic is being unreasonable about the situation. I hope that helps and Mouch gets better soon.

My dog's teeth broke at the vet. Is she in pain? What should I do?

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