I just had my 15 year old kitty's annual dental cleaning yesterday. She always has a lot of tartar and has had nearly annual cleanings since she was about 7 years old. The vet told me she had a cracked upper canine. She said she thought long and hard about it, and decided not to remove it because of the trauma the cat would have to go through. Often in these cases she said bone needs scraping and it is rough on a cat that old. The cats breath was bad, but not infection smelling and her gums weren't showing severe infection. She said she looked at it as if it were her 15 year old cat. (My vet has removed my other cats' canines' before when necessary, but they were a bit younger.). She said it seemed stable and we'd wait and see what happens. She gave her a shot of antibiotic and sent me home with some for the next 10 days. Anyway, today the cat yawned, and I swear it looked like the tooth was gone! She's still sore from yesterday's cleaning and won't let me get a better look. She's always been a spooky cat so I don't know if I'll be able to pry her mouth open for a good look but I do want to wait a couple more days for any soreness from the cleaning to subside. Has anyone ever had their cat's tooth break off like that? Especially just after having a cleaning and a vet look at it? She said I might want to go to a veterinary dentist specialist for an x-Ray if problems come up. Can't imagine what the cost of that will be! I've been doing cleanings for my cats all along so I thought I was avoiding bad teeth issues for them in old age.