Tooth Resorption

[PrincessMom123]

My 5 year old cat was recently diagnosed with tooth resorption at her annual exam. The vet didn’t seem overly concerned about it because my cat eating and behaving normally and maintaining her weight. The told me that while it was an option to get the tooth pulled, it wasn’t an emergency and that in some cases, the tooth just gets fully resorbed into the body within a few months. He recommended bringing her back for a dental checkup in a few months to monitor the progress and see if an extraction is needed.

I’ve researched this since and I don’t see any recommendations to simply let the body take care of the tooth. Is this really an option that is safe, or was he just trying not to push me into the inevitable tooth extraction too soon? I don’t want to put my cat under anesthesia if I don’t need to, but I also don’t want leaving it alone to cause more problems. If she’s managing okay, it would be great if the body just took care of it on its own, but again, I’m not seeing that online anywhere as an option for handling it.

Thank you!

 

[pearl99]

One of my kitties had this happen, and per my vet it is painful for the cat and she recommended pulling the tooth. She was acting fine also. Gracie needed a dental cleaning anyway also, so I did have it pulled.
I’m not sure about leaving it alone, if that is an okay option. If I was a kitty I think I’d want it pulled .

 

[mani]

Hi P PrincessMom123 and welcome to TCS!

It's hard to go against what your vet is saying as we don't know how bad the resorption is, or in which tooth. But from my experience it's really painful for the cat.. both of mine have had it and both have had a significant number of teeth removed.. my boy doesn't have many left. Cats are very good at hiding pain, so you don't really realise how much good it's done until after they've had them removed.

In your case, though, it's just one tooth, and your vet is right.. it isn't an emergency and could well not be too bad at this stage.
I think that taking her back for a checkup in a few months is a good way to deal with it, unless you start to notice any issues with eating etc.

I'm not a big fan of letting the resorption just happen without treatment, but perhaps if it's just one tooth and it's one of the smaller ones, then that could be viable. I'd discuss that a little more with the vet.

 

[maggie101]

I forget to regularly brush my cats teeth but it needs to be done, there are also gels and wipes if you can't brush.

 

[PrincessMom123]

Thanks very much, mani for the warm welcome and advice. I think the vet recommended waiting partially because it is one of the smaller teeth. Since an extraction would be easy money for the hospital, I’m inclined to believe he thinks this is the right course of action! I’ll talk to him a bit more about his thought process behind putting it off and will definitely take her back in a few months to get it rechecked.