When the Tooth Fairy Comes Calling for Your Basenji

It was double dental days during February at our house. I finally submitted to a long delayed root canal, and my basenji girl Bow got a tartar cleaning. Even before insurance kicked in, the root canal was less expensive than Bow's work, but I don't regret having it done.

A few months ago, our regular vet clinic went bankrupt. After feeling a bit distressed, I was pleased that Dr. Nicola Gillespie of All Pets Hospital was highly recommended to us by several people, including our trainer, and I have been very pleased with her detailed manner. When she did our first exam, she gave her a clean bill of health but said that while it was not urgent it was important to clean her teeth.

From the records I have on her pre-adoption in November 2008 Bow had never had major dental work done and at seven she was definitely due for a major tartar removal. Although there was significant build up on her front teeth, Dr. Gillespie said that she "did a good job" of keeping her back teeth clean.

Before going through the procedure, especially having her go through anesthesia, I wanted to research the risks and benefits. Chey Miller with BRAT was very helpful to answer a few questions and has posted this very helpful article on the BRAT website about her girl Ruby going through the same procedure.

After I forwarded it to Dr. Gillespie, she called to assure me of the clinic's experience with sighthounds in general and basenjis in particular. She confirmed that two of the key concerns are how they process anesthesia and to make sure that the liver enzyme levels are not too high. After doing initial blood work, she decided to delay the procedure because her liver levels were a bit off and to monitor them for a couple of weeks. When we returned, the levels were still a bit off but not enough to be an extreme concern for doing the procedure. However, she performed a liver test as a safeguard and there was no sign of any liver problems. She qualified that the only way to be 100% certain would be to do an ultrasound but that she did not feel it was necessary. I opted not to have her do the ultrasound.

The other concern to be addressed was whether or not Bow would be monitored after the process, which can be one of the riskiest parts of the process. I was assured that staff would monitor her closely and that this is the clinic's standard procedure when any dog is coming out of anesthesia.

With these concerns addressed, I dropped her off a couple of days later at 7:30 a.m. I was impressed that Dr. Gillespie gave me a couple of calls during the procedure to let me know how things were going. She was pleased that while the teeth definitely needed cleaning, she did not need to do any extractions. By around 3 p.m. I got a call that Bow was ready to come home earlier than her originally planned 4:30 p.m. pick up. As I had been warned, she was a little groggy but happy to see me. How groggy? When we walked home from the car and passed several flocks of pigeons, she glanced at them with an "Oh, whatever" look and made no attempt to chase them. That was definitely a first.
Though definitely subdued through the evening, Bow was ready to eat when dinner time came around and did not have any of the whimpering or crying that I had been warned might happen. By 7 a.m. the next morning, she was perky as ever for her morning walk, ready to leap at pigeons again and had a full appetite. I can't say I was as perky after my root canal a week later, and it took three appointments not just one!

I was also greatly impressed that Dr. Gillespie called a couple of times after the procedure to check on how Bow was doing and to see if I had any follow up questions. (That's definitely not something my dentist has done.) We will have a follow up visit next week, a month after the procedure, to reconfirm that her liver enzyme levels are at an appropriate level and to give me a training on the appropriate brushing of her teeth from this point forward.

The procedure was a good reminder of what a great resource BRAT is for a relatively new basenji parent like me. While it also confirmed that I have a really great new vet, having BRAT to help raise questions and keep me better informed really helped rest my mind that I was doing the best things through the process for my four-legged housemate.