My 4.5 year old spayed tortie is at a dental appointment this morning, booked to remove one tooth that had broken off at the gum line, and a cleaning. I asked to be called post X-rays to discuss any other work that needed to be done, rather than giving a permission to just go ahead. The vet doing the surgery (different one from the consult and one I don’t like to use because there is always extra charges) called and said there were six teeth broken at the gumline and another 3-4 that she would recommend removing because of lesions.
I understand you need the X-rays to know what’s happening under the gums, but is it common to miss that many broken teeth in an exam? We were given a quote between 250-700 just for the extraction component, and she came back saying that it would now be over 2k just extractions, which I declined. I said to focus on the teeth that were the biggest problems and we would revisit the issue at another point. Simply put, I can’t afford to pay for a quote that doubled as I set aside money over the last six weeks based on the original amount.
I want to follow up with the clinic manager, but I’m not sure if my expectations are reasonable
Should there be a visual indication or bad breath or something that indicates that much of an issue without X-rays to confirm?