Only The Best

Advanced anesthesia with the experts.

Anesthesia is a critical component of most of our procedures. It is also the riskiest part of our procedures, a fact which we take very seriously. We understand that it may be your biggest concern as well. Skilled & Experienced The North Bay Veterinary Dentistry team brings to veterinary dental specialty practice a high level of experience. They are skilled and experienced in anesthetizing patients who are compromised, as well as those who are healthy but who may experience complications under anesthesia.

Dr. Fulton has had 12 years of experience in anesthetizing animals, working with a board-certified veterinary anesthesiologist either supervising or providing support for questions and assistance.

Board-Certified Anesthesiologist

In addition to this high level of training, we also are proud to be able to offer consultations with a board-certified anesthesiologist for those patients who are at high risk The anesthesiologist will be prescheduled and on site as arranged on a case-by-case basis.

On the nursing side, our lead Registered Veterinary Technician, Ashley, has had 10 years of experience working alongside an anesthesiologist. She has excellent technical skills in placing IV catheters, monitoring patients, and managing their anesthesia so they remain under as light a plane of anesthesia as possible.

All Walks of Life

The NBVD team has worked on pets who are both very young (for example, an 8-week-old kitten) and very old (a patient who was a 21-year-old dog). We have anesthetized pets who have previously been in heart failure or kidney failure, and have safely seen them through healing to find they feel better than ever. We never consider your pet too old to be anesthetized, but we recognize that it is always a calculated risk. Sometimes the risk outweighs the benefits, and we elect not to proceed with anesthesia. But often we find that the benefits do outweigh the risks and that it is safe to proceed with a procedure that can bring them increased comfort, health, and happiness.

You may have heard about anesthesia-free cleanings for your pet. The North Bay Veterinary Dentistry team strongly discourages this approach for several reasons, all of which relate to providing optimal health and comfort for your pet.

Have you ever tried brushing your pet’s teeth? Most people find this to be very challenging, and if they succeed are typically only able to adequately clean the outer surfaces. This leaves the surfaces of the teeth next to the tongue, as well as the tough-to-reach spaces in the back of the mouth and between teeth to build up plaque and tartar in places you can’t see. As a team that cleans teeth every day, we know there are spaces that are hard even for us to reach with the pet fully anesthetized. How would someone using sharp metal instruments be able to clean these spaces if the pet is awake? The Importance of Anesthesia in Treating Your Pet’s Teeth

Reduce Stress In addition to being unable to thoroughly get under the gumline, between teeth, and on the inside surfaces of the teeth, there is a large risk of scratching the surfaces of the teeth with these sharp instruments, which leads to faster accumulation of tartar over time. Those same instruments can damage the gums, cheeks, or tongue if the patient moves unexpectedly. Another factor to consider is the amount of restraint needed to accomplish these cleanings, which leads to significant stress for your pet. While anesthesia certainly isn’t stress free, the North Bay Veterinary Dentistry team prides itself on reducing any stress as much as possible. We gently handle our patients, provide anesthetic protocols that help them both relax and forget the procedure day, and provide a calm space to rest in comfortably before and after treatment. Minimize Risks

We take precautions to ensure that each pet’s procedure is as smooth as possible. By using anesthesia, we are able to be thorough and complete, which in turn provides your pet with the best chance to benefit from maintaining a healthy mouth. Safe & Thorough