Why have they added on costs for extractions?

[Spaceunicorn6789]

I asked the vet for the cost for a dental scale and polish for the two spacedogs.

The vetiinary nurse who drew up the quote said "will you need extractions?"

Well, no I wouldn't have thought so. Their teeth seem fine, no issues with them except they have developed some build up at the back. Hence the dental.

So she said oh well we will add the price for half an hour of extractions on anyway.

Why would they do that? And HALF AN HOUR of extractions? After half an hour they'll have no teeth left

Fair enough if during the dental a requirement to extract a tooth appears, though I can't see why not but why does it seem standard to add in the price for half an hour of tooth pulling as standard? Am I being dense here or something?

I don't want their teeth pulled out!!!! Bug spacedog had a residual baby tooth removed a few years ago and he was mopey for days about it.

[Spaceunicorn6789]

can't see why

[villainousbroodmare]

Nobody is going to extract healthy permanent teeth! Odd choice of words I'd say from the veterinary nurse, but I presume she was trying to give you an estimate that would be likely to cover all eventualities. Milk teeth do need to be extracted if they don't fall out naturally, as they are usually clamped hard against the permanent tooth and decay invariably sets in over time. Brush your dogs' teeth after this dental and you shouldn't need another for a long time.

[threemilesupthreemilesdown]

I think she was trying to cover all eventualities and manage your expectations a bit. Extractions can be time consuming and complex (I'm not sure how many you were thinking they'd manage in half an hour!) and until the dog is under GA it's impossible to know exactly how much work will need doing.

[Bananarama12]

Really? She's giving you an estimate just in case they need teeth out. If she gave you one without you would argue the price. We have to cover ourselves.

[Tamberlane]

No one will pull healthy teeth! They are horribly difficult to remove... shes given you an estimate in case they find an unexpected issue that needs to be dealt with... Until a dog is under ga its often impossible to access the teeth properly yo see the degree of mobility and recession under tartar....

Also half an hour isnt long for a serious extraction. Dogs have teeth with multiple roots and are very different to humans!!

[Veterinari]

If you think they’d have no teeth left after 30 minutes of extraction you’ve clearly never extracted a tricky molar!

She’s giving you an estimate - It’s not unusual during a dental to remove all of the tartar and expose bare infected tooth roots that need extraction - you’d be upset if the vets didn’t estimate this in advance so they’re estimating it just in case. If extractions aren’t required, they won’t charge it, but until they scale off the tartar and fully examine, they won’t Know.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Underneath that Tartar at the back often the gums are recessed and the roots exposed and those teeth have to be removed.
Half an hour is minimal time dentals with multiple extractions can take several hours.
The dentals are the single trickiest procedure to estimate as from what you can see you often have no idea till they are asleep whether it is a quick whizz round with the scaler and polisher or hours of sweat with the Luxators.

[BiteyShark]

It's obvious she was adding on extractions to a quote so you could see how that will affect the cost.

No point giving you the lowest quote with no extractions and then you arguing that it's far higher at the end as a quote is just an estimate to give you an idea.

[tabulahrasa]

My vet always over estimates on dentals - as other people have said, it’s so it’s not more at the time if they realise they need to do more.

[pigsDOfly]

This is just an estimate, if I'm reading the OP right.

So I'm assuming they're not asking you to pay this up front.

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me to add that on in order to give you a more rounded idea of what it might cost if you decide to go ahead with it.

Sounds like they're being fair. If they'd given you a very low estimate that you went ahead with, and then added on several £££ in the event of extractions it would be a cost you'd be less prepared for and could end up being a hell of a lot more than you're prepared to pay.

[ABC1234DEF]

As others have said, dentals can take hours. Better to give you an upper and lower estimate than to go in, find extractions are required and then leave the dog under anaesthetic whilst they try and get hold of you to get consent, or have to repeat the procedure another day if they cannot get hold of you to gain consent.

Where i used to work it was practice policy to do a scale and polish, then call the owner mid procedure with an estimate for any extractions. Even when people were expecting this call between say 9-11am, we wouldn't be able to get hold of the majority of them

[Maneandfeathers]

clearly those who think you can extract healthy teeth in half an hour have never seen the effort involved in a dental.

[Spaceunicorn6789]

Okay no need to be so abrupt. None of my dogs have ever needed a dental before so it just seemed strange to me to almost pre-empt extractions. I'd really rather they didn't have to have any teeth pulled out of course.

And my only experience of extractions was my own wisdom tooth which took approx 1 minute hench why half an hour of extractions seemed a lot