I lost a bunch of my teeth ... mainly because I hadn't cared for them well enough. Take care of yours, please. If you have a dental school anywhere near, go there. The local one, 20 miles away in our university did a lot of work for me, including full top plate and partial bottom (three of mine left) and it wasn't too expensive. Their evaluation changed after they'd done some major work on some that they later pulled and they gave me a credit. Then I made a contribution to the school - deductible. When they were extracting a bunch of my top ones and my student (east Indian, gentle lady) quoted these prices: extraction $32.00 first tooth in a quadrant, $16.00 each of 4 subsequent, as she was making up the account, when I said, $96.00, no one paid much attention (receptionist there, as well). When she added it all up and came to that figure, they looked at me and asked how I'd figured that so quickly. I said that base figure was $32.00,and 4 at $16.00 each was the same as two more at $32.00, that 3 x 30 is 90 and 3 x 2 is 6 - total, 96. If no dental school available, shop around - I think it possible that you can find a better deal than the quote that knocked the plaque off of your teeth (almost). Good wishes for satisfactory dental care - at a decent price. ole joyful

Thanks for all your advice. I forgot to mention that I do brush his teeth with enzyme toothpaste (CET) and he let's me do it. It's just his back molars that have tartar/plaque build up. His front and side teeth are sparkling white. I will ask my vet about the gauze wipes. I tried to find these at Petco but didn't see them. I am so sympathetic to this poor dog as I have the same problem and have to go to the dentist every 3 months for cleaning! I tricked him into eating a Greenie yesterday. I made believe I was eating it and this made him want to eat it. It's hard to believe but his back teeth are looking better already. If I can trick him into chewing a bone, then I think his tartar problem will be alleviated. Re the anesthesia. After he came back home from the teeth cleaning, he was desperate to drink water. I gave him just a tiny little bit and he started throwing up. Then he was desperately thirsty again. Every time I gave him a drop of water he would throw up. This went on from 3 pm when we brought him home to around 9 am the next morning when the anesthesia finally was out of his system. I have never seen this kind of reaction before. Very scary. I will have to let the vet know next time about the bad reaction because it truly was not normal.

I feel for you. I have a 1 year old who has gingivitis problems. He's part siamese and from what I've read they are prone to gingivitis problems. There is also another condition that causes inflamed gums and throat tissue in cats-stomatitis(?)- I think it is an immune system issue and is often treated with anti-inflamatory meds. I am not in Chicago, so can't offer any advice there, but it unclear from your post if you have taken your cat to the vet for further assessment. She may need something other than a dental cleaning. My cat is young and has perfect teeth still, it's the gum tissue that needs attention. We've used a pet product made by Biotene (you can look it up on Amazon if you want further information). It is an enzyme based product that is suppose to help relieve the bacterial situation that leads to chronic mouth problems. They make both a treatment gel and a maintenance gel. Our guy didn't mind the taste, but it didn't work as well we'd hoped (we did have some improvement though). A lot of people have had good luck with these products though. If you haven't already, it would probably be a good idea to take your cat to a vet and have the condition assessed to find out what is really going on. With our guy we've switched to a product we bought at the health food store, which works well as long as I'm vigilant. I'm hesitant to name it here because the name is very similar to another substance that is poisonous to animals. Best of luck.

Here's another perspective to consider - from a former dental hygienist. I worked for a periodontist (gum specialist) right after I graduated from college. I found out I wasn't very skilled at removing subgingival calculus (tartar below the gumline) when I got out of school but I received excellent advanced training and experience working for the periodontist. What was most amazing was that many of the patients we saw had been having their teeth cleaned every six months their entire adult life but unfortunately they weren't being cleaned properly and many of these patients had advanced periodontal disease with bone loss as a result. Some cases were so advanced they lost one or more of their teeth. I moved and left that job and began working in a general dental practice. Unfortunately I found the same thing happening in the office where I worked. Other hygienists, who had not had the benefit of the additional experience I'd received in the perio office, were leaving calculus behind in difficult cases and patients were developing periodontal disease and bone loss. I'm sure I was the brutal hygienist removing the long neglected calculus that the other gentle hygienist left behind. I did however educate the patients about the situation (diplomatically because you don't want to give people a reason to sue the dentist for negligence) and let them know why the cleaning was "different" from what they had. Most were appreciative - some didn't like it and I'm sure requested the gentle hygienist. If I were you I would ask the dentist for more information about the health of your mouth and if there's a logical explanation for the situation. I would specifically ask if they did a full mouth probing and charting of periodontal pockets - if any. Find out if you have any periodontal pockets, bone loss, etc. Ask if you had a significant amount of subgingival calculus. Ask to see your records - HIPAA entitles you to have a copy. If there are no extenuating circumstances like this then it is quite possible the hygienist is a hack. However in my experience the more common type of incompetence is that the person just doesn't know how to do the job properly and thoroughly. Now that I'm out of the business and can't see people's work first hand I get my teeth cleaned at a perio office - just don't trust that the other folks really know what they're doing based on my previous experience. Or they may know but are on such a production schedule that they don't have time to do a thorough job. A lot of people would probably consider my current hygienist brutal. I'm willing to tolerate that to know that the job is being done right.