Time for Basil and Winston to have dentals done

Basil had his check-up on Monday. Everything looks fine. He had a wart removed from his paw under local anesthetic. He was very good about that and has one stitch. The vet said he was an angel. Anyway, other than that, his teeth are not looking so great. I was hoping to avoid dentals altogether, since I hate putting them under anesthetic. The vet recommended it, though, as he has lots of tartar build-up. I told her that Winston will probably need one, too, as his breath is pretty bad and he also has lots of tartar.

I'm not sure when I will schedule the dentals. Will probably have to wait a bit, as I'm going on maternity leave in the fall. How many of you have had them for your pugs and what's your experience been? Does it really improve their teeth and breath? Is it absolutely necessary? Also, if they have one now, will they need another one in a few years? Winston is almost 6 and Basil is 5.

Hattie (now aged just 7) had her first dental yesterday. No extractions. The vet said it was worth doing, although the teeth weren't too bad, and it shouldn't be necessary again for some time. The dental was combined with the dreaded claw cutting.
Today she is still a bit woozy and subdued after what was only a very light anaesthetic. The tail is not really curled. But tomorrow will be another day - with nice clean teeth and nice short claws!
Good luck with your boys when it's their turn.

I've had dentals on all three of my pugs, and one foster pug. It is absolutely worth it. Before we had them done, I was skeptical....but, it is great. Their breath smells WAY better, and they feel better, especially if they have any bad teeth.

All of mine had extractions. The vet kept some of the teeth out to show me afterwards, and I felt terrible that my poor babies had those bad teeth in there that must have been hurting them.

In my experience, it took a few days to recover. They came home and we just cuddled them, because the anasthesia makes them cold.

If the vet is suggesting it, I would definitely get it done in the not-too-distant future. I know when Imi came to me she had breath that would stop a rampaging elephant and after a much needed dental she was minty fresh. MInus many teeth. I think it is one of those things that you just have to bite the bullet on at least once or twice in their lives.

Renee, I so agree about the anasthesia making them cold. Last night I sat for ages with Hattie on my lap, wrapped in a huge fleece rug, cuddling her as she shivered.
I'd forgotten how rotten the after-effects of anasthesia can be.
Thanks for the very timely reminder.

Emmet hasn't had one yet (he's 8), but his teeth aren't in bad shape, and his breath isn't bad.

Wally has always had dragon breath, and ended up having his first dental at age 2 or 3--I think it was 2--I'd actually taken him to the walk-in vet (my old vet) for an eye thing that I needed to get in for right away, and she noticed something funky going on with one of his teeth. Since we were worried about greater issues, I took him to our regular vet for one, and he had several extractions and some just fell out! I can't say it helped his breath for long, but I do think it's important, at least for him--since his mouth obviously produces more "stuff." He had one again earlier this summer when he had his bumps removed, and lost one more tooth--none of the tooth loss has slowed him down one bit--I kind of wish it would!