Canine Root Canal - lots of pics!

Hi everyone! Today I had a Root Canal. I had to have it be cause my root died. It was in my lower left canine. I was excited to get to the vet! I went one day last week and had fun. This time I had fun too. It was a little scary when they took my temp with a weird ear thermometer ad shaved my leg! But then I got to play with my mom while waited for the doctor.



Then I got a shot which I didn't mind and then I got really sleepy and I laid down right next to my mom because I knew she would keep me safe. They walked me back and put a thing in my leg and that's pretty much the last I remember but my mom stayed with me and took pics so I can tell you what happened!

They had a Bair Hugger blanket to keep me nice and warm!

And I was all hooked up so they could monitor my vitals!

Mom thought this thing on my leg was cool because it controlled the rate of fluids going into me without a pump!

First I got my teeth cleaned, eve though they were already clean.

This is me all hooked up to the monitoring stuff and with my anesthesia and everything.

Here you can see me under the Bair Hugger getting a dental x-ray.



They found a funny thing right between my two front teeth which they called a granuloma and they cut it off with a laser.

Then it was time to start the root canal! First they drilled and flushed the top part of the tooth out.



Next they started a lower hole to get to the bottom of my root.


The doctor alternated between the holes, drilling and flushing and stuff to clean them all out and get them ready to be filled in.


Here the doctor is measuring how long my root is. It was 33cc long!

You can see the lower hole the doctor drilled in these two photos. He had to make that hole to get to the long part of the root!


Then they started filling! This orange stuff is now inside my tooth! The doctor put it it, cut the section off, packed it down a lot, and then put more in, over and over until my tooth was filled up!


Each time after packing that stuff in, it had to get hardened by this light! You weren't supposed to look at it or it could make you blind like Firefox!

After my tooth was all filled up it got polished!!!


Then it was time for me to wake up! That was really hard and took a long time, but finally I was able to go home! My grandpaw came and met my mom and he took me home and my mom had to go to school! Boo!

Ok, that is all, I hope you enjoyed my root canal experience!
ArthurGOOD!

Dust, December 1993 - August 31, 2009

Dust was adopted from Weare Animal Guardians in Weare, NH at the age of 5.5 years. His first family had gotten him from a newspaper ad as a puppy, and were told he was a St. Bernard X Tibetan Mastiff mix. Later his DNA was analyzed and he was shown to be a true mutt, with traces of Shar pei, Chow chow, and Keeshond. Of course, they didn't have tibetan mastiff DNA to compare too, so that could still have been in there. His first family claimed that he got his tongue from the St. Bernard.
When he was adopted, he was heartworm positive and had to undergo a painful treatment, which left him trembling and terrified of vets for the rest of his days.
Shortly after his adoption, he began limping and was found to have arthritis in his elbows and hips. This definitely slowed him down physically but he still enjoyed swimming and fetching.
Dust had a joyous smile and he loved everyone he met, and was happy just to be with his person, whether lying quietly nearby or playing fetch, hiking, even kayaking in Acadia National Park.
He was a very good brother to his kitty sister Friday, his border collie sisters, Nell, PQ, and Lacy, as well as his aussie mix brother, Saga, and a fantastic mentor to his protege, Arthur.
He loved excavating himself a nice cool spot to lie down, too. ;~)
Dust was a photogenic fellow and always happy to pose for pics.
In his younger days before the arthritis set in so much:
What he thought of this particular Halloween costume!
So not true! There never was a better dog that Dust!
Affectionately known by his "official" name, Dust E. Magee, Dust lives on forever in the memories of everyone who knew and loved him.

Dust got extremely ill in 2005 with a mystery illness that was literally eating holes away in his tongue and mouth and causing awful nosebleeds. It was never definitively diagnosed and it was uncertain if he would even make it to his 12th Birthday, but he did end up having a miraculous recovery thanks to massive, immune suppressant doses of predisone. So truly, every day since then was an added gift - it' hard to ask for more than almost 4 extra years, as much as it would have been treasured.

Dear Dust, you are so very, very, missed, and dearly loved, forever and always. Godspeed, my friend. Please tell all your buddies at the Rainbow Bridge how much each and every one of them is loved and missed as well.

Until we meet again . . .