Dangers of anesthetics

Question
My 5 year old male pug started drooling a week ago and his breath became very smelly.  I took him in to the Vet. Duke (male pug) has two maybe three abscessed teeth that the vet suggested we pull right away, ($600.00) plus, Duke would have to go under anesthetics. When we had him fixed two years ago the Vet called me during the surgery to tell me Dukes breathing was in trouble and that he could fix it by removing some of the extra skin from his throat area ($400.00). I declined and luckily Duke came out of it well. I am afraid to put him under again. Is there any other way to have his teeth pulled/ healed/fixed without going under? I have Duke on Clavamox tablets 125mg now and he seems to be feeling better.

Answer
Deb,

There is always a small chance of a reaction to anesthesia and I can understand your concern about having surgery.

The antibiotics that you are using may be enough to heal the gum tissue and you may be able to get by without surgery.  I would wait and see how the gums heal.  If you feel that there is still an issue with his teeth, then go for the surgery.

I think that the anesthesia they use to pull teeth would be much lighter than they would use for neutering.  If you make your vet aware of the trouble that your pug had at his last surgery, he make sure to keep the anesthesia at a minimum.

Hope this helps,
Christine Puetz