Yes I was thinking about cleaning his teeth myself. I have done it for years with my other dogs and their teeth are very good 
But this is my husbands dog and it really his responsibility. But he is also a dentist and I told him already that this is his next job
But maybe I found a better solutionā¦ Obviously there are different quotes in different vet clinicsā¦ I found another one who will do it for 250 That sounds a lot more reasonableā¦
Just remember that what you see below the gums doesnāt mean you can tell exactly whatās happening above the gums.
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Funnily enough, after posting the above someone Iām friends with on Facebook shared a picture of a dogs tooth that had had anesthesia free dentals for 5 years. The tooth looked pretty good, no big tarter buildup, pretty smooth and clean looking. But after dental rads were taken it was revealed that 18 teeth needed to be extracted. This was a pic of one of the teeth.
https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p480x480/15542289_1839040856370185_4811897118303729716_n.jpg?oh=e00cbd2174f362d5d2d17eaca697dd80&oe=59479D97
hopefully that link works
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I hope not that that is going to happen. But I have no problem to pay more if teeth need to be extracted. But 250 plus possible extractions is still cheaper then 550 plus possible extractionsā¦
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you get what you pay for. at our ER, weāve seen so many pets who went to the Humane Society for spays and neuters and they end up dead because their anesthesia techniques suck. So your $40 spay turned into a $2000 spay because we needed to give 2 units of plasma to keep your dog alive. It happens way too frequently.
Non-anesthesia dentals are bad news. You cannot properly do a dental on a dog or cat that is awake. Had a patient that had one done and while the dog moved the vet pithed him. He came to us brain-dead. āPlease save our dog who got a sharp instrument shoved into his brain.ā Yeah, no.
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A little update my dog had his dental done today He survived it and no teeth pulling was necessary And I only payed half the price of the other quote. And I have no reason whatsoever to believe that his care in that vet clinic was inferior to the care in the expensive vet clinic ā¦
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I get that the vets on here get offended when people generalize but you really need to take into consideration that there are more then a few bad apples out there. Lots of people on this board have been ripped off. And I firmly believe that most rural large animal vets are barely making ends meet, while lots of small animal vets do quite well.
I think that the above poster who talked about āregulationsā didnāt mean licenses. They meant a cap on what professionals in the industry can charge.
I acquired a dog a couple years ago and took her to the vet that the previous owners had used to keep it consistent. I knew things were going to be busy so I booked her yearly apt 3 weeks early. Vet does full exam and then refuses to administer vaccines because itās too early, proceeded to charge me $100. I was pissed so I took my business elsewhere. New vet is much cheaper, and is much more calming for the dogs.
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Here is something to help with the dentalā¦since I have been adding Plaque Off to my corgiās food, there has been SO much less plaque and much better breath.
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your version of ripped off is probably completely different than mine. Placing an IV catheter, requiring bloodwork and dental x-rays may seem like a rip off to you, but to me itās just good medicine and doing the best I can for my patient.
Other than farriers and trainers, there are few professions on here that get trashed as much as vets do. Youād be a little sensitive, too.
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Really I wanted to write this post in another thread but it might fit here as wellā¦ I think I know the reason why vets in the US charge so much more then vets in Germany. And if you look at it its absolutely correct what they do its just a mistake in the systemā¦
In Germany we have rules what a vet can charge. for each procedure there is a position he can charge. His board regulates that. If something is extremely difficult he can double or triple the position. And I think thats fair for everybody because no patients can get ripped off. Also education in Germany is free for vets. So when they start they start with 0 dept (or very little)
In the US vets start with 1/2 Million of dept. So in order to get rid of this they do need to charge more. They would go broke if they donāt earn enough to pay of their debt plus enough for their living and their employees. So basically the result is people pay for their dept.
So everybody who is using vets for their pets pay off the debt as well. If you really look at it is socially extremely unfairā¦ People with very low income still are required to pay off the dept of vets and pay 550 for a dental for a little dog. not sure what low income family earn but I am sure they suffer when they pay 550 for a dental. In Germany they would pay only 80ā¦
So if you look at it politically it makes total sense why the US is so expensiveā¦ But its sad
People are not paying for my debt. They are paying for my time that I took to go to vet school, just to get into vet school, and for the knowledge I garnered while in vet school. I pay my own debt. Thatās like saying I pay the mortgage for the man who sold me my car. In the long run, we all pay each otherās bills, donāt we?
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So what you are saying is that in Germany things cost different amounts based on what a person can pay? Because that is what you are describing. Itās unfair that we charge the same amount to different people even if one of them is poor. Iām pretty sure Germany is a capitalist country as is the U.S.
No, very sorry if I wrote it wrong. I did not want to say that in Germany there are different amounts based on what a person can pay. Everybody pays the same. But it is regulated what a vet can charge. And somehow I have the feeling that its a lot lower then what vets charge over here. What I was saying was that in the US a vet calculates the cost of something and charges it to the patient (because there are no rules for it ). And of course he will factor in the payments for his debt. He has to, otherwise he will go broke. So the payment of the debt is on top of the costs for the treatment. And of course it is socially unfair, because everybody pays the same money for the treatment regardless of the income in the US. Whereas in Germany, nobody pays for the debt because there is none and the education for the vet is payed by the taxes payed by everybody. And that is socially fair, because people who are able to earn more income are paying more taxes then people who are not able to earn a lot of moneyā¦ So in the end yes people pay vets according to their income
I hope i was able to make it clearer now. It is a bit confusing because a tax system usually works in some ways nobody thinks about, but its very interesting to look at all the interactions (one of my classes in University was taxes and financing )
Considering it costs me $250 for my own biannual cleanings, without anesthesia, an IV catheter or bloodwork, I think your price complaints are a bit unreasonable.
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No I donāt think so. I paid $280 today for the dental (bloodwork included) and I plan to switch my other dogs to this vet as well. She did an amazing job for a reasonable price and I am just very unhappy that I never thought about her beforeā¦
When a hospital makes a pricing decision, the hospital financial personnel do not take into consideration anyoneās debt. That is the individual personās problem. They consider salaries, which are very low considering the amount of education we endure. And then the individual considers their debt when they work on their financials. Thatās how salaries work in the U.S. Our tax rate is considerably lower than it is in Germany. So if you live in Germany and donāt have pets, youāre paying for someone elseās pets. Thatās fair (sarcasm font).
That kind of reminds me of the time I went on vacation with my 3 sisters. We went to dinner and I had the cheapest dinner because I was watching my finances. My sisters all had alcohol and very expensive dinners. The check came and one of my sisters said we would split it 4 ways. NOPE. I had a cheap dinner for a reason. I donāt want to pay for other peopleās things. I told her if we were going to do it that way, I was going to have lobster and filet mignon at every meal, with champagne and they can all help me pay for it. Is that fair? NOPE. I believe there is a word for that. Socialism.
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DrBeckett, I did not want to question your way of calculating prices for treatment and yes in Germany people do pay with their taxes for a lot of things they might not even use. For example people without kids pay for schools and for other people kids. But on the other hand these kids will pay into the retirement fond for the people who donāt have kids. So I believe in the end everything is kind of fair.
And yes we do have a way of Socialism in Germany, but really I donāt think its bad like you want to make it sound. In my business class we did have a lot of discussions about the reasons why they have this system in Germany and I believe it makes sense. A country is a society and everybody is a part of that society and contributes to it. There are parts of the society which are more able to contribute and parts which are less able to contribute. In Germany the system is made in a way that everybody gives what he is able to and the government kind of evens out. Its not a perfect system and there are a lot of problems as well but thats the theory behind it.
I just paid $415 for a appointment with a dental (the way state laws are, I donāt get a discount, so paid what any client would have)- that included physical examination, preanesthetic bloodwork, HW test (it was due), bordatella vaccine (also due), IV catheter, preop pain meds and sedation, IV induction, general anesthesia with all the monitoring, heat support, dental (no extractions, cleaning only), xray of one tooth that was suspect and doxirobe for the pocket in that tooth. That was on a 2yo healthy JRT with just tartar (no odor or suspected tooth problems).
So for an older dog with possible extractions, I can see $550 easily. Your horse doesnāt get radiographs or general anesthesia.
And since little dogs often have ROTTEN mouths (my last JRT had about 6 teeth when she died at nearly 15), frequent dentals in them are often worth it for their health and comfort.
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Oh- and when comparing prices between clinics make sure that youāre comparing apples to apples by getting an itemized estimateā¦
Glad it turned out well!
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Ermā¦if a Vet becomes a Vet without incurring as much debt for their education because their government pays for some of itā¦ do you understand why comparing what Vets there and here charge is apples/oranges?
