Fractured jaw (dentalcleansing?)

Was a tooth pulled? This comment from Animal Dental Center

http://www.mypetsdentist.com/site/view/113064_JawFractures.pml


It is about animal jaw fractures. I do not know is this site will have the helpful information your are looking for or not? But they do make this statement: "Unfortunately, we frequently receive referral cases for jaw fractures as a complication of dental extraction procedures."

Dogs have an extremely high pain tolerance compared to humans. It is difficult to know exactly how much pain the dog suffers because of this.
Could it have been a mishandling of the jaw during cleaning? Or was it an older injury?

My LH Chihuahua has such a fragile looking small boned jaw, I doubt it would take much pressure to damage it.

I suggest you use your food processor to make his food the consistancy of baby food, so he will not have to put any pressure on the jaw. I'm sure you have probably taken care of this already.
When I had a fractured jaw, I swallowed bits of food whole. Even the slightest pressure was extremely painful. The dentist I went to didn't know how to wire my jaw, because he was fresh out of dental school and didn't know how to go about the sugery. I elected to let it heal and hope for the best. It was all part of my 5 year boxing career.

I should have named my LH Chihuahua "Velcro" instead of Molly, because of the way she sticks to peoples lap and tries to hug their neck.

If the little guy does not start gaining his weight back soon. I think it would be serious enough to get a second opinion and take action to correct the problem soon.

I agree with you about too much anesthesia. I would ask if the doctor is experienced the type of anesthesia called twilight sleep.

Duke Medical Center uses this technique a lot during surgery.
Two alternate names for twilight anesthesia are IV sedation and conscious sedation. As the terms imply, a patient under twilight anesthesia is in a sedated state, but the patient may not be entirely asleep. The anesthesia relieves anxiety on the part of the patient, and also creates a state of amnesia, so that the patient will not remember the procedure later. Many of the drugs used to induce twilight anesthesia are the same as those used in general anesthesia, but the dosages are much lower.

I am just using this as an example. But it requires more attention by the anesthesiologist, instead of giving one heavy dose and forget forget about it.
They use it to remove prostates. So you know it is effective for serious surgery, and the patients wake up completely after surgery without being gooned out, groggy or dazed, and feels as freshly awake as they were before anesthesia.