The case, pets, and veterinary professionals in this article are fictional and used for educational purposes only.

Benjamin the 10-year-old whippet was left in the care of his 20-year-old human brother over a weekend while their parents Anna and Tom went away for the night.

As usual, Benjamin seemed to spend most of the weekend snoozing on the couch, while his brother was out working or socialising.

When Anna and Tom returned home, they were startled to see that Benjamin had a semi-closed right eye and painful swelling of his entire right cheek, which they hadn’t noted before their trip. They wondered if Benjamin had been stung by an insect (as he had a doggy-door to pop out into the backyard as he pleased), so phoned their regular veterinary clinic to make a booking for that day.

At the veterinary appointment, the source of Benjamin’s facial swelling was rapidly ascertained. Benjamin had significant dental disease and had now developed a small opening in the inflamed gum, just above one of his right upper molars, that was draining pus – this was consistent with him having developed a tooth root abscess.

Tom and Anna guiltily remembered that at Benjamin’s last vaccination appointment seven months ago, he had been recommended that he be booked in for another dental clean. Unfortunately, in the busy rush of life, they had put off making the booking and then eventually forgotten.

Benjamin was started on pain relief and antibiotics and booked in for a dental procedure under anaesthesia a few days later. His pre-anaesthetic blood tests showed no concerns, and all went smoothly. He ended up requiring five extractions, including the main problem tooth.

Benjamin was sent home with another 5 days of medications, and a recommendation for a soft food diet for the next 2 weeks to allow his gums to heal. He recovered well and seems happy and comfortable again (with better breath!), though continues to spend most of his days being a couch potato.