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!

They should have explained to OP why the procedure was necessary prior to it being done. And even afterwards it sounds like nobody has offered an explanation?! That in itself is appalling.

Vet has a duty of care to the health and wellbeing of your dog. No vet would take healthy teeth out, your dogs teeth must have been in a terrible state and have been easy to remove. Sounds like you were misguided by the first vet. No negligence or crime by veterinary surgeon.

Unfortunately we have a local vet who was banned from ever practising as a vet again as he did all sorts of unnecessary ops on animals,it went in for years.

OP you must report him.

They tend to charge for that, not operate for shits and giggles. But I suppose it might be something for the complaints Admin at the RCVS something to do on Monday morning.

I would be the same, but we are reasonable, sensible types, who care more about our pets' welfare than about trying to prove a point.

It seems there are some on MN who aren't. One idiot even seems to think this is animal abuse!

Unfortunately it was very much for shits and giggles , absolutely horrific.

If 22 teeth were removed in 90mins I can guarantee they were hanging in by a thread (or holding eachother in with tartar more likely)

Judging by the replies I can see how little veterinary knowledge most of the population has.

I agree you should have been warned/informed as it was a big shock for you..but I disagree that it was your
" decision".It was welfare grounds.

Is it though?

The vet calls to let you know about the updated amount of teeth that need extracted, and you say no? That becomes a welfare issue.

If your dog needed so many extractions, while signs may have been subtle, that's not a pain free mouth.

I appreciate you've had a shock, but the shock for me would have been "wow, my dog had awful teeth and I hope they weren't suffering. I'm glad they've been sorted now".

Your reaction is ridiculous- blaming the vet who has helped your dd

To fully assess the dogs mouth and teeth he would need to be under anaesthetic or at least sedated. unless the first vet did that he would not certainly know what wanted doing,
however, its odd that the vet did not ring you when he looked at the teeth considering how much work needed doing.
from that point I think you should put your grievances down in a letter to a practise manager or similar stating that you understand that the dogs oral health may be worse when examined, but he should have rung for permission before going ahead with the work. you need assurance this will never happen again to anyone else, the vet is given training to make sure he knows practise policies and you are seeking recompense for this ie no bill

I dunno, depends what the consent form said about doing what was needed and if its an old dog, the work was needed and they didn't want to prolong the GA then I can see why they would just go ahead. They certainly haven't charged for it.

Why would you expect not to pay for the work that was agreed ie GA clean and potentially 4 extractions?

She hasn’t been charged for the extra work and you don’t know that the vet didn’t follow practice policies.

My MILs elderly dachshund has had nearly all his teeth removed and he is so much nicer now. He used to be very snappy and whine all the time and I assumed it was just his personality but since he had the teeth out he barely whines and is generally a much nicer dog. How sad to think he was probably in low level pain all that time causing the grumpiness

I’ve only read OP’s posts. Is it a greyhound?

im asking because we are on our 5th ex racer and 3 of them needed teeth out - one had 4 followed by 11 the following year 😮

I doubt the vet would remove teeth just for the fun of it! Until the animal is sedated and they can have a proper look they can’t know for definite what needs doing! My vet’s said they would ring me when my cat went in for a dental and tell me how many they needed to remove and I asked them not to and to just go ahead and remove whatever they thought needed to come out so kitty wasn’t under a general anaesthetic any longer than necessary!

Do vets not charge for work where you live?

Possibly if he had actually charged for the work done. £200 wouldn't nearly cover it.

£200 and they took out 22 teeth?
THIS THREAD IS ABSOLUTE BOLLOX!!!!!

Absolutely no chance would any vet only charge that for this amount of work. Complete lies!!!

My dog had 6 healthy teeth out after being kicked by a horse. It took about 2.5 hours so 90 minutes was very quick for healthy teeth. I would imagine the teeth removed were less healthy than you thought. The vet will have had a duty of care to the dog.

I was charged £800 for four extractions of my cat’s teeth - 4 years old. Our local Medivet practice which probably has something to do with it. But he was so traumatised it ttook 3 days for him to stop cowering under chairs and trust us. He is now terrified of going to the vet. All the time he is comfortably eating (and he will not eat anything other than kibble) and not losing weight I would not put him through that trauma again.

This was my experience. She was an older dog, went in for proper examination, clean and definitely 2 teeth out. Ended up with 11 teeth out.
Operation didn't cost anymore despite extra teeth removed so not the vet trying to get more money.
Sent home with hefty painkillers and within a week or two she was back to normal.

Veterinarian here. It’s impossible to know until a dog is under anesthetic exactly what state their teeth are in. While 22 sounds like a shocking amount, particularly if you were prepared for 4, it’s not unusual. Your original veterinarian should have informed you about this.

Honestly if they took 22 teeth out in 90 minutes those teeth were likely to be basically rattling around in there. I would have more questions about how the first vet only thought there were 4 to be removed because it sounds like the level of dental disease was pretty extensive if they truly did manage to do that in such a short amount of time. Many of the teeth (particularly the two and three rooted ones) can be an absolute pain to remove and it is not unusual for it to take 20-30 minutes or even longer per tooth, depending on the skill of the vet and the equipment they use. A healthy tooth would take even longer.
I would say this is a communication issue more than a malpractice issue. You absolutely should have been prepared during the admit appointment that they may need to remove other teeth once they can have a proper look with a probe, +/- radiographs. In an ideal world, most vets I know would try to contact the owners of the amount of teeth needing to be removed is drastically different from what they first expected… however on occasion this isn’t possible if the aneasthetic isn’t going 100% smoothly, and ultimately the vet has the authority to act in the animal’s best interest.
£200 is also an absolute bargain if I’m honest. Not sure where you’re based, but where I live in the South East, most practices charge £300-400 for a scale and polish alone. 22 extractions would cost around £1000 (which is another reason I would bet that the teeth came out extremely easily.

if it’s any reassurance, I understand that having so many teeth removed is shocking, but I have seen many dogs do extremely well after full extractions. It is a much happier life for them than living with dental disease. I’m sure you are feeling some guilt, but please don’t, because you have done the right thing seeking dental treatment for your dog and I really wish more owners would. Hope your dog is starting to feel a little better now.

Exactly! Having previously worked in vet practice, it's npt east ro removed dogs teeth, especially if they're healthy and not rotten so doubt very much the vet did it just for the sake of it. If he had 4 rotten teeth on initial exam, it's very likely thwy found more while the dog was under anaethetic and they were able to have a proper exam.