Vet removed 22 teeth without asking me

[MyJollyJadeBird]

AIBU to think this vet should be reported?
I left my dog (8yo) with my vet to have a dental clean and polish, but when I collected him, they had removed all his upper teeth and some lower. He was wailing. My regular vet had warned me there were 4 teeth that might have to be removed. But a different vet did the surgery. My regular vet apologised and said they stood over their assessment of 4 teeth that day, but couldn't explain the other vets decision. Since then they've been careful to put nothing in writing.
AIBU to think this was criminal and if so, what recourse do I have? I don't want to report the whole practice because they've been so lovely up until this, just the surgeon vet!

Are you worried they’ve charged you per tooth?

Bloody hell, our cat had two taken out last Friday and was almost £500!

The consent form doesn’t mention extractions

Not at all it’s not about the money

So what was the plan for the 4 teeth that did need to come out? What do you think the vets motivation for taking 22 teeth out is if they only charged you £200?

Ultimately its likely your dog did need 22 teeth out. If there's for example bone loss then it's going to affect the majority of the teeth, and the vet can only know how the teeth are affected once they've been cleaned up

So what is it about? If the teeth needed to come out, would you have told them not to do it?

Then you need to speak to them, what did you consent to and understand what the treatment plan was. Have they given you post op and dietary advice

If it only took such a short amount of time it's likely the teeth were very very loose or decayed.
Have they given him any pain meds?

Poor communication, incompetence, who knows, that's why a meeting is needed.

There are some ridiculous comments on here. It’s not criminal and it doesn’t need reporting. At worse it sounds like there was poor communication. £200 for the removal of 22 teeth is also a bargain. My dog had a similar number removed and it was more like £800. Once your dog has recovered they’ll be much happier without a mouth full of rotting teeth.

I have given up ringing owners mid dental procedure- I cannot be arsed with leaving an anaesthetised dog on that table (even though our nurses are brilliant and our monitoring gear is ace) to toddle off and start discussing things on the phone. If they need to come out they come out, if they can stay they stay and that decision isn't up to the owner. I don't ask the owner what volume of lidocaine to put in the nerve blocks or what suture material to use for the gum flaps.

If I have booked it in myself I have prepped the owner that there may be more work than appears necessary and estimated accordingly (we charge extractions in packages 1-4, 5-9, 10-15, 16+) although I don't charge for the ones that are finger loose and often you'll only get charged the bracket below if lots of the extractions were easy incisors or first premolars. One awkward carnassial or lower canine can be harder and longer than 20 other teeth put together if the others are wee crap ones.

If somebody else booked it and I find a mouthful of extractions estimated for 4 I'll say which of yiz feckers booked this, you may go down the shop and buy me a packet of chocolate orange penguins, I'll need most of them after this. Bollocks. What's its heart rate like? What's its blood pressure like? Good. Right, tuck that fluid line between him and the heat pad and keep checking body temp. Can somebody have a look at my appointments for this afternoon and block off 2-2.30 for lunch thanks. Oh, I'm rammed from 2pm? Bollocks. Oh well I think I have a packet of koka noodles in the cupboard. What's the owner like? Who was talking to them on admit? We'll deal with that later. Ok, let's begin....

....much later, when the place is a bombsite of sectioned extracted teeth falling down the dental sink, used swabs, every dental tool in the box with a bit of gently drying blood on it, bloody fingerprints on the drill, scaler and instrument table (they don't actually lose much blood just a little goes a long way, especially diluted with the cooling water from the drill and scaler, and I am messy) and empty packets of suture material I'll be finally checking with the nurses- right he's had methadone at induction, and IV paracetamol pretty much straight away, low dose ket, he got his NSAID...can get a methadone top up before home, book a TGH with me please. Well, MAKE room. Who's minding him in recovery over lunch? As soon as he's lifting his head can somebody ring the owner and tell them GA went well and I'll talk to them at TGH. Right I'm off to microwave some noodles and write it up.

Fucking hell.. Report and get the vet struck off..
Ddog went in for teeth cleaning and 4 removed.. Vet herself rang and said ideally 8 needed to come out.
And 8 were removed..
£800!! But done with my consent.

Oh, and my notes would likely be "22 teeth extracted in total but stuck to estimate"

As a dog owner, you are not qualified to decide whether rotten teeth should be removed or not. It’s a welfare issue and it would be negligent for a vet to not extract them. The most you can complain about is probably poor communication, but ultimately the outcome would have been the same so I don’t really understand some of the outraged responses on here. Your dog will be much happier without a mouthful of rotten painful teeth and £200 sounds like a bargain.

Wow, from 4 to 22 seems like a huge jump. You will need to request medical reports up to the point of surgery and check what you signed when you agreed to the surgery. Most vets will remove teeth, if needed, and usually explain that this will be more than initially stated if they are found to be in poor condition etc.

So, the fact that more were removed isn't shocking to me but it seems odd that you weren't prepared so I'd question that, for sure.

Hope your little dog is okay. The vet may have done your dog a favour but I can see how you'd be upset if you weren't briefed, properly.

It’s my decision to make

Our cat recently had a scale and polish and we had to consent to teeth being removed if necessary before they started. They did specifically warn us that they would do it without contacting us if they judged it was necessary, and that we would be charged per extraction. I was really worried the whole time he was in there, but in the end all he needed was a good clean. I'm sorry that you've had such a shock. You should ask for a meeting with your usual vet and the practice manager to run through their consent procedures.

I'll just leave this here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-concludes-market-investigation-with-major-reforms-to-veterinary-sector

What was the plan for the 4 teeth?

£200 is a bargain! It was more than that for my cat's dental years ago.

Am clearly very laid back as well as I just left the vet to get on with it. If they find more teeth need extracting it's not as if I can argue about it, they are a vet and I'm not.

So if they’d called you mid operation to tell you 22 needed to come out, what would you have said?

I don't know what country you are in but in the US its $200+ just to check the dogs ears. That seems like a bargain!

£200 does seem like a bargain by the way. It was £350 for my cat's scale and polish and any extractions were going to be extra

@powershowerforanhour just remind us where you practice, general area is fine.

Every time I have had to sign that teeth may be extracted if necessary which to me is sensible as I would rather they got the surgery done as quickly as possible.