Retained puppy teeth

Hello just looking for your thoughts please. Sorry for long post. Our chihuahua puppy weighs 2.8kg and she is now 11 months old. Her adult teeth grew underneath some of her puppy teeth instead of pushing them out, so she now looks like a shark 🦈 Although majority of her puppy teeth fell out, 6 of them remain (2 of which share a socket with the upper canines). When she was 6 months old, the vet planned to extract these teeth at the same time as her spaying. However, mid-spay her heart rate dropped alarmingly low & super quickly so the vet could never get round to extracting her teeth, and had to quickly finish the spay (she had to staple it instead of stitches). She healed fine, and I took her back yesterday for a follow up consultation for her teeth as the puppy teeth are still there and they should have 100% come out by now. They said they absolutely need to come out as she will almost definitely get periodontal disease very quickly which can in turn affect her heart etc. She also has an underbite which is preventing her from naturally cleaning her teeth by chewing. The vet said that they don't want to risk putting her under general anaesthetic as they're concerned her heart rate will drop again. So they instead recommended sedating her enough so that she's not completely out of it, but enough for them to open her mouth & insert a tube. Then they will inject local anaesthetic into her gums so that they can remove the 6 teeth. The upper canines will require the gum to be cut far up to create a flap so that they can get to the root of the puppy tooth.   Does this sound like a legitimate alternative to general anaesthetic, is it a tried & tested method or are they just guessing it will work? I didnt even know there was such thing as an alternative to general. I feel like I need to get a second opinion. This surgery is going to cost me £600 (not covered by insurance) so I want to get others opinion on what you would do. I'm damned if I do & damned if I don't. I feel like I'm putting her life at risk either way just because of some tiny teeth 😒 pic of example of her double canines

Hello -- I wonder why your dogs' anaesthetic went this way?   Was it something that wouldnt happen again?  Was there a problem with some specific drug?  Or is there some underlying problem eg with the heart?  For me, it is vital that your vet understands it - and indeed is open about it - before making more decisions about what to do next.  It may be possible that the same drugs are avoided next time.  I personally have never heard of anyone intubating a dog under sedation - you would need the jaw and larynx to be completely relaxed for this, with the patient not swallowing, which to my understanding is acheived by general anaesthetic.  Dogs under sedation can move, swallow, react to pain, cough etc which doesnt sound ideal if an airway is to be protected.  Without a tube and iv line (traditional sedation), it can also be considerably harder to control the depth of sedation, which is not necessarily safer. Therefore you might, as you suggest, consider seeking a second opinion (we are in no position to provide these).

It may also be worth clarifying with your vet (get them to write it down) what they mean by 'sedation' and intubation in case there has been a mistake.

Please note that there are actually qualified veterinary dental specialists who, if this is something legitimate that I havent heard of, would have heard of it themselves and probably be very happy to say 'dont worry, thatll be okay.'