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!

Don’t be ridiculous

More like criminal negligence if the teeth had to be removed because they weren't managed appropriately at home and then the vet left them in...but ok.

If the dog's teeth were so awful why weren't they dropping out on their own? How the heck is the poor thing going to eat missing 22 teeth?

Absolutely nuts and I would be questioning why you weren't told. Of course it's not about the money 🙄.

Quite easily. Dogs manage just fine with no teeth.

Well you got a bargain there!

To do 22 teeth in under 90 minutes it must have been possible to flick them out with a finger.

Shocking! I’d have expected a phone call to discuss the issue and expect to be shown the rotten teeth as proof that they needed taking out. Poor practice at minimum.

they didnt charge very much!
i have been quoted £1000

They rot under the gum line and cause bad breath, pain etc and often owners are unaware (or ignore) these symptoms until they're too far gone which is why an annual check up would have prevented this. Also, 22 teeth sound dramatic, but it's not really for a dog. They have far more and as someone has pointed out, they acclimate with no teeth at all which is far better than infected, diseased and painful teeth.

That’s cheap. My previous dog’s dentals were always over £400 and this is fifteen plus years ago and was never that many teeth removed. Plus they killed her in her last dental and still charged me £440.

Happened to my son (human kind) he definitely needed his 8 back teeth removed when they got him under anaesthetic they took all his top and most his bottom teeth they were WAY worse than what they thought initially im assuming its the same for animals

What did you say to the vet on pick up? That was surely the time to start complaining. The teeth must have been very poor but I would have expected a phone call to let you know that they were going to take drastic action.

i think they did the best thing for your pet

Probably a lot easier than he could yesterday. He must have been in such a lot of discomfort.

There was absolutely no need for a phone call because no vet would leave teeth in such poor condition in. They'd rather do what this vet did and remove them for next to nothing so the dog was no longer in pain and he could eat properly.

I think you did ok on price then. it sounds like he is an older dog and as people have said, its hard to tell what the dog needs until you can get a good look at the teeth and they would likely have wanted to keep the anaesthetic as short as possible in an old dog so not want to faff around contacting you and having to discuss the issue. Two other things. Its best for old dogs to have as few GA's as possible and infected teeth are not just painful, the infection can spread around the body and cause nastier things like heart trouble.
I am sorry it was a shock for you but honestly from what you have said, they did their best for the dog. yes wailing after anaesthetic is common and yes make sure the pain relief is adequate. My dogs used to produce nuclear farts after GA too.

I did meet a dog with three teeth yesterday, owner says he eats fine.

he will eat quite easily if given suitable food while his gums heal.

How can you possibly call it 'criminal' until you have heard the explanation of the vet who actually removed the teeth? In your position, I would certainly be asking for more information from that vet, but I absolutely wouldn't leap towards accusatory talk of criminality and reporting.

From what vets and nurses have said on this thread, it doesn't seem likely that 22 healthy teeth were somehow forced out of the dog' mouth in just 90 mins. Much more likely that the vet found evidence of severely weakened teeth that were relatively easily removed.

Why not assume good reason for the vet's action until they have had a chance to answer your questions?

Also, are you sure the consent form didn't give them licence to perform any strictly needful procedures while the dog was under? Clearly, it's best to contact the owner first in these situations, but I think that there must be some expectation that vets will act according to their professional judgement about urgent matters while a dog is under anaesthetic

I want your vet practice for dental work to only cost £200!

My dog had to have a number of teeth out under general anaesthetic. The procedure was done in 2 stages

I was advised that she may only have very few teeth left after both operations had been completed as, like many have said on the thread, its hard to tell what teeth need to come out until they are under general anaesthetic

The 2 procedures cost just short of £1000. I also can't believe they managed to remove that many teeth in 90 minutes, they had to do my dog in 2 60 minute stages for cleaning and removal

She doesn't have that many teeth left now.. recovered within days and eats normally so your dog should be fine. Dogs hide dental pain well and I'm happy that mine had the amount removed she did, as I trust she needed it.

Er, money?!

Well it clearly wasn't done for the money if he charged just £200 for the whole lot including anesthesia.

It sounds like he was compassionate and he put the poor dogs needs first, wanted him to be comfortable.

My cat had mouth issues. We were warned that it could be between 1 and several teeth.

Turned out it was 2. But with xrays and the op, it was still 600 quid. Insurance didn't cover it either, but I accept that pets+vets are expensive. That's a lot of expertise etc to pay for.

But they seem to have done the extra extractions for free, judging by the bargain price

Im so sorry for your dog and for you.What did the consent form you signed say specifically about what was to be done? if you didn't consent to extraction of as many teeth as were necessary did you ask why they didn't contact you to obtain consent for additional procedures before proceeding?
On the face of it this sounds very poor practice .
Get some answers and if you are not satisfied with the answers you get formal complaint.

This procedure was done at a financial loss to the vets. £200 will not even cover the costs of doing it so no the motivation won’t have been money.

as others have said it is not possible to remove 22 healthy or even mildly disease teeth in 90mins. It sounds like they were very loose and that means also infected and painful.

ALL the consent forms in all the practices I’ve ever worked in have included consent forms extractions because you just cannot tell what needs doing until the animal is under GA and the X-rays have been taken.