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!

HNRTFT but just to say my JRT has to have sedation for the vet to clean and assess her teeth twice a year. She was born without any enamel. Most trips involve removing 2-4 teeth . A vet will not remove teeth for the fun of it . Calling whilst under sedation just prolongs how long she is under anaesthesia.

This

is your dog a Yorkshire terrier, miniature poodle or a dachshund by any chance?

My cat has just had to have all his teeth out, except for the tiny front ones. It was done over two separate sessions, with x-rays on each occasion to assess the situation for each tooth. This meant that we did not know how many teeth would be taken out, they were literally assessed on the operating table. His two lower canines were 50/50 and the vet decided to remove them. None of the extraction decisions were taken lightly, or for fun. In my cat's case, it was the gums causing the teeth to die and decay. His gums were red raw and the vet said he was in pain. I imagine your vet had to make the same assessments for the sake of your dog's well-being.

There are unfortunately so many sadistic psychopaths living among us.

YABU - not that you'll listen.

You let your dog get to this state and now you don't want to believe it, so you're blaming the poor bloody vet.

It's not criminal, or negligence, and there's no recourse for you by the way.

This happened to my dog back in 2020 the day before my due date with DD. He went in for 2 teeth removing, when I went to collect him the receptionist told me they’d had to remove 7. The vet wouldn’t come out and speak to me and hadn’t called me to discuss. I complained that much the staff physically pushed me out of the door so I called the police, it was awful. My dog was off him food for a quite a while after but gradually returned to his normal self.

Thankfully my baby was late and we managed to switch to an amazing new vets practice before she was born

Actually OP, it’s not your decision. It’s the vets decision every time - they are highly skilled and highly trained experts and the law states that they must uphold animal welfare over the wishes of any owner. Shame on you for letting your dogs teeth get so bad that he needed 22 of them out!!! Poor little dog. You sound like a very entitled and ungrateful individual. I pity your vets having to deal with your complaints…* *

sounds like a bargain for that many teeth. My cat gets kept in overnight,,and it was £600 for 2 teeth

what did you consent form say
?

They all sen to covering their arses.
Report them. Find out exactly what happened
Plus how much would removing 22 teeth cost you!
A pretty penny and more.
Your poor dog
sounds in a lot if pain and really upset.

Hope he feels better soon.
x

Admittedly a quick phone call from one of the team to say his mouth is worse than expected and needs more extractions wouldn't have gone a miss. But also , as a vet nurse, they wouldn't have removed those teeth for no reason or to hurt your pet . You can never give a full oral examine on a conscious animal so until he was asleep, they wouldn't have seen how bad the dental disease was. You cant even fully see the back molars.
I hope your dog is recovering well , my old dog was left with only 1 tooth as an old boy and managed really well , I hope your pet will too .

My vet had always been very clear that they won’t know for sure what they need to remove until they get in there.

My view is that they are the experts and in the room doing the OP, so when I put my dog in to their hands under GA I am relinquishing that decision.

Mine broke one tooth,,it cost over £500 to have the rest of that one tooth removed. ..I want your vet

£200 is a bargain. I would assume the teeth came out pretty easily if only took 90 minutes, so there were issues with either them or the gums

It is bad they have spoken to you after the operation to explain what actually happened

One could take the view that letting a dog get to the state where it needed 22 teeth removing was negligent, and the vet was just dealing with the aftermath of that. We don’t have, and I suspect are not going to get, the facts…

I can imagine that this was such a shock for you but these was obviously a reason for the removal. My dog has had 4 dentals each time with extractions. He now has no teeth and is the happiest he has ever been he is 13 but springs about like a puppy and eats dry food no problem.

This.

Vets are flawed humans too, mistakes happen, people can be negligent, stuff goes wrong. They should have at least called and consulted you.

@MyJollyJadeBird I hope you get some answers and that your poor dog feels better very soon! Necessary or not, that’s a lot to adjust too. Dogs are resilient though.

Good luck.

When my dog went in to have two teeth removed the vet rang me during the op to say more teeth (6) would need to be removed and was I ok with that. I would have been in shock too if they’d removed them without telling me.

Shrinkhole Motivation is money £££ that poor doggy 🥲

At £9.09 per tooth and chiselling years of neglect calculus off to get to where they're already falling out, you should save pawr ickle doggie comments for how he was allowed to get in that state in the first place

Anyhow, it's not a wolf, it's a domestic mutt who only needs a human with a tin opener to eat happily and pain free for the rest of its life, not a full set of fangs to intimidate the neighbours with. It'll be fine.

i doubt a vet would remove healthy teeth for the fun of it they must of had a reason, did you not ask while you were there ?
one of ours went in for 4 removed and had 12 taken out as when under anaesthetic it was apparent there were a lot more needed to come out due to decay . The majority of the cost is for the anaesthetic in the long run it’s probably been better for the dog and your wallet , they would of needed to come out eventually and then you’re paying for repeat anaesthetics which are not great for the dog. I don’t think this is criminal. Maybe check the consent form you may of signed to say you were happy for further teeth if deemed decayed to be taken under one procedure

That is ridiculously cheap for what you had done. Clean and polish and 22 extractions would be more like £1000 or more.

Why? What is there to be "in shock" about? What is the actual difference between telling you and not telling you, the teeth still needed removing either way?