Dental extractions are among the most common surgical procedures in cats. Appropriate pain management and recovery care are essential for minimising suffering from dental disease and its treatment.
Dental extractions, while invasive, are welfare-positive interventions when performed for painful dental disease. The welfare failure is not in performing extractions but in inadequate pain management before, during, and after the procedure. Cats with dental disease may have been living with chronic oral pain for months or years before owners recognise the problem. Post-extraction, cats without adequate multimodal analgesia experience significant pain during the healing period. Veterinary practices that perform dental extractions without dental radiography risk leaving root remnants that cause ongoing pain. The transformation in behaviour reported by owners of cats who have received appropriate dental treatment — resumed eating, increased activity, renewed affection — demonstrates how much chronic dental pain had been suppressing quality of life.