Title: Serious concerns about anesthesia care and documentation I am sharing my experience so other pet owners can make informed decisions. I brought two of my dogs, Gigi and BooBoo, to Pet Dental Center in Estero for dental procedures that required anesthesia. During Gigi's procedure (February 2025), she experienced cardiac arrest under anesthesia and had to be resuscitated. The clinic could not provide a clear explanation for the cause of the cardiac arrest. Later, during BooBoo's procedure (September 2025), he experienced severe airway collapse during anesthesia induction and ultimately passed away after transfer to an emergency hospital. After both incidents I requested the complete medical and anesthesia records. The records I received appear incomplete and missing important monitoring data, including ECG/EKG information and anesthesiologist documentation. I had specifically agreed to procedures only if anesthesia was managed by the board-certified veterinary anesthesiologist listed by the clinic. However, the records provided do not show anesthesiologist documentation or signature for the anesthesia care. The anesthesia induction for BooBoo appears to have been performed by a technician or trainee, despite my explicit verbal refusal of trainee involvement. The documentation also contains: * missing anesthesia monitoring data * no anesthesiologist notes * inconsistent patient weights * scratched-out medication entries * no documented post-event report after cardiac arrest I attempted multiple times to resolve these concerns directly with the clinic and requested clarification through certified letters, but I did not receive meaningful responses. Because of these unresolved concerns, I submitted a formal complaint to the Florida Board of Veterinary Medicine requesting review of the anesthesia protocols, documentation, and provider involvement in both cases. I encourage pet owners to ask detailed questions about: * who will actually administer anesthesia * whether a board-certified anesthesiologist will be physically present * how anesthesia monitoring data is recorded and preserved My goal in sharing this experience is transparency and awareness for other pet owners. read more

Pet Dental Center - My Boo in the box and Gigi who suffers with neurological issues after cardiac arrest. - Veterinarians Near Me - Estero, Florida

My 13.5y/o mini pin just got dental treatment,very well done dental cleaning and extraction of her tooth. Very caring staff , Dr.Mac super caring and ready answer all questions. Very happy with the results and care my dog received. read more

Pet Dental Center - Veterinarians Near Me - Estero, Florida

2 of my 3 dogs have been treated here and we could not be more happy. The staff and Doctors and friendly, professional, and caring. My dogs have recovered quickly and smoothly due to the expert care they received and clear aftercare instructions provided. This is the only place I will take my pets for dental care! read more

Pet Dental Center - Veterinarians Near Me - Estero, Florida

Fantastic experience at Pet Dental Center. My dog had tooth extractions and growths removed. The staff could not have been more patient and informative throughout the entire process. Ashton at the front was a peach, along with every single tech and doctor we interacted with. Cannot recommend this practice enough! read more

The best experience ever with an extremely complex extraction on a tiny Maltese. Top notch service from the first visit through after care. If you want the best possible care for your babies this is the place for you. You will get the care and expertise you pay for. read more

I highly recommend Pet Dental Center if your pet needs dental work ! They actually care about their patients I can vow for that in my own personal experience . My 15 year old chihuahua Cheech has a heart arrhythmia and had severe periodontal disease. The Veterinarians and their assistants wanted to make sure he would be okay to go under anesthesia. So they had a nice cardiologist referral for him which I am grateful they wanted to make sure he was okay and wasn't just wanting money . We was able to get him into the cardiologist pretty fast after our initial appointment at the dental center. He was in the clear to go through with the surgery . Last Monday February 19th he went under anesthesia and had the remainder of his teeth removed. I can't rave how good the communication was between this clinic and myself the day of Cheechs procedure. I dropped him off at 8 am and I recieved check up calls at 9, 10, and 12:30 before his surgery. I received another call when his surgery was finished at 1:33 and I picked him up around 5 pm. They sent us home with the proper meds ! Plenty of pain meds for him. He wasn't too uncomfortable at all. We stayed ahead of the pain. The antibiotics really kicked in and helped and I can say After 9 days he is back to eating his diet and seems to be enjoying his life allot more . Whats Best is his breath no longer stinks and i believe he is no longer in discomfort from the periodontal disease. read more

Pet Dental Center - Day of surgery on the way home. - Veterinarians Near Me - Estero, Florida

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BUYER BEWARE!! Think twice before spending a NON-REFUNDABLE payment for an introductory appointment. Absolutely unimaginable. Don't do it. There are better alternatives that are less expensive and more conducive to good customer practices. read more

If you think $185 and waiting 30 minutes to see a tech is OK then this is the place for you to get a consultation. My quote of under $6000 was given after the resident saw my Maltese. I never saw the vet and was told a vet tech would do the cleaning. Yes, I am a hygienist, so I understand too much. Very disappointed. read more

You've found your forever go to with Pet Dental Team! They are comprehensive & the BEST Surgical & Pet Dental Care Team in the Nation. This consultation and surgery center is top of the line when it comes to professional, compassion, knowledge, experience, quality of care & experience in surgery & emotional intelligence dealing with our fur babies and ourselves during their entire examination, recommendation, and surgical processes. Many high level care & communication follow up phone calls and emails from meeting to follow up care continuum. Thank you Pet Dental Center Team. You are truly Best In Practice. read more

Pet Dental Center - Happy Furbaby 2 weeks after dental surgery! Look at that smile! - Veterinarians Near Me - Estero, Florida

Our experience with everyone was exceptional...the entire staff was knowledgeable and compassionate. Our cat Torre had severe periodontal disease. He needed to have his remaining teeth extracted. When they placed him under anesthesia, the called and let us know...30 minutes later the doctor called and discussed his findings and discussed recommendations...the next phone call was to let us know he was in recovery and doing well! We didn't have to wait and wonder how things were going. When we picked him up the doctor spent time with us showing pictures of his diseased teeth and reviewed the entire procedure. We got a complete written report with before and after pictures from the surgery. This was better communication than from my own doctors! We highly recommend this group...and a special "shout out" to Summer...exceptional customer service...she's an asset to the practice! read more

Pet Dental Center - Veterinarians Near Me - Estero, Florida

By far the best pet clinic we've ever been to. The staff is beyond helpful and efficient; friendly and welcoming. Dr. Gingerich literally saved my kitty's life and operated on him with less than 24 hour notice. He is beyond gentle, thorough, compassionate and a fantastic surgeon. We feel so so fortunate to have found him read more

Highly recommend! My 17 year cat with a few chronic health issues needed dental surgery, but given his frailty and age, doing so was risky. Still, I couldn't let my baby be in pain for whatever time he has left on this earth. (And we all know that teeth problems are painful AF! Just because cats don't whine or cry, and even if they're still eating, it doesn't mean they aren't hurting. Animals have nerve endings/ pain receptors just like we do ya know.) My local vet recommended this place because they have a board certified veterinary anesthesiologist who comes in to assist with the surgeries of fragile patients. This means my cat's anesthesia would be monitored similarly to how a human patient is monitored and that's what I wanted. So even though they're 2.5 hrs away from me I took my baby there- and I'm really glad I did. The hospital is very clean and the staff are all wonderful. During our exam Dr. G took time to review Smudgy's medical history, his current meds, and what the dental procedure would entail. I felt confident that both the vet and tech really heard me when I said Smudgy is a former feral and an anxious cat who needs extra-calm and extra-gentle handling. During the course of the day (which I spent at a local bar soothing my own anxiety, haha) I received multiple calls informing me of Smudgy's progress, including one from Dr. G after the xrays and ct scan were done. He wanted to make sure I was ok with extracting all of my cat's teeth since they were non-salvageable and there were also roots that had been left behind from prior extractions done years earlier at a vet hosp that did not have a dental xray machine. (PSA: if your vet doesn't have a dental xray machine- don't let them pull your pet's teeth! Post-extraction xrays are the only way to know if the roots are fully out instead of festering and being painfully reabsorbed!) Anyway, I told him to do whatever he thought was best for my boy. A coupla hours later I got another call saying the procedure went well and that he's in recovery and doing great! (Everyone in the bar raised their glasses and cheered, lol!) Smudgy's discharge was very thorough. The details of the procedure were told to me and I received a link to all of the images taken of my cat's mouth before and after. My questions were patiently answered and aftercare/medications were discussed. It's now one month post-surgery and Smudgy's mouth looks healed, pink and healthy. He's eating better than ever & is even playing with toys again- something he hadn't done in many months! Thank you Pet Dental Center! read more

Highly recommend Dr.G and his staff for your pet dental needs. We brought our 7 year old toy poodle to the clinic and we are extremely satisfied ! The office is new and very clean. Covid precautions in place as well. We will be returning ! read more

These people are absolutely amazing! From the front desk to the OR. When I found out my dog needed dental work I had 3 people say "I have the place for you". Every person said Pet Dental Center. I am so impressed with them. They listened to all my concerns because my dog has other issues and put me at ease. They kept me informed about everything they were doing through out her procedure. They called me the next day a few times to check on her. I can't say enough good things about them. Today we had our follow up appointment and it was the same wonderful experience. I told the doctor that I wish I had a dentist like him and would he clean my teeth, I promised not to bite:-) I am so grateful I found them!!!!! read more

Dr. Gingerich and the Pet Dental Center team are awesome. Ashton and Summer are a real pleasure to schedule with and talk about your pet's procedure. Dr. Gingerich is clearly a very talented veterinarian. He combines a great bedside manner with real technical knowledge and experience. Both of my dogs have been under his dental care for many years. They both suffer from periodontal disease. Dr. Gingerich explained that dental health truly is total health for my pups and he has gotten them back to their healthy jovial little selves. If you have a pet with any dental problems, they will be in great hands here. I highly recommend. read more

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE PEOPLE!!! I got my 5.5 pound dog back last week. He could not hold his head up for 24 hours. He was over drugged!! They did not clean his teeth because their blood test machine malfunctioned. If the numbers were right my dog would have been dying. They offered no advice on what to do regarding his care given the horrible blood test results. They still wanted to charge for their services as they handed me my horribly sick dog that was healthy 4 hours earlier when I brought him in. I was extremely upset and they expected me to be calm. BE VERY VERY CAREFUL. THEY ARE NOT TAKING THE CARE THEY USED TO. I had been here many times before. Things are different now. I suspected that when I was told my dog would not be done until 7 at night. They are no longer carrying pets in pouches like they used too. They are collecting as many pets as possible and drugging them up and putting them all in cages. Their level of care has changed. I will never go back. STAY FAR AWAY IF YOU LOVE YOUR PET. read more

Complete waste of time. Most expensive practice in the area. Don't provide records in timely manner. Don't even have an anesthesiologist without extra 700 charge which other practices consider part of surgery fee. In it for the money not caring for you or your pet read more

While the service from a "technical" perspective is great, the process used by the office overall leaves much to be desired. We were instructed to medicate our deaf, blind dog with a sedative at 6:30 AM and drop him off at 8:30 AM. He was at the office ALL DAY with limited human interaction. I'm certain he was kept "mildly" sedated all day in preparation for dental surgery. His surgical procedure did not START until after 4:30 PM. By the time surgery was over and we picked up our dog it was after 9:30 PM; we finally walked in the door at home at 10:30 PM. Yes, folks, that's over 13+ hours that our dog was medicated and alone! At the post-surgery follow up visit we were asked if we needed a tube of canine toothpaste; we said yes. So, on top of a $4200. to $4300. invoice we were charged $16. for a tube of toothpaste!!! Again, from a "technical" aspect they're great BUT they schedule far too many pets for surgery each day. It appears that the practice routinely puts Profit over Pets or Cash over Canines/Cats. read more

I took my 11 yr old dog there for dental work and could not have been happier. They were professional yet very caring and he is so much more comfortable with a healthy mouth. read more

Thank you to Dr. Gingrich and Jennifer and of course Emma and the entire staff at Pet Dental Center for taking such great care of our Shirley. They were referred by our dogs cardiologist for taking care of her teeth especially seeing that she had a heart condition. Dr. Gingrich called me prior to say he had received all of her medical records and felt comfortable doing her surgery. I also received a call from Jennifer who would be admin her anesthesia. The entire staff displayed so much caring as well as compassion for our dog which made this surgery so much easier. During her surgery they called me for updates as well as went over her X-rays and post op care. I cannot say enough about the extended care she received as well as all my questions. I would highly recommend The Pet Dental Center, Dr Gingrich and his entire staff. I am truly am grateful. read more

Very Disappointing. They give the impression it's all about getting paid. You must pay in full BEFORE they provide the service. I had already given them a 250.00 deposit on the final procedure and had already spent 1300.00 there. Did they really think I was going to not pay them? Office manager is a jerk and clueless. I recommend if you have a choice, go somewhere else. read more

I would never use this office again. I brought my 16 year old dog here, who was actually in very good health, for what was supposed to be a straight forward extraction of a root that had alkalized into the jaw. Dr. Gingerich said the root absolutely had to come out, there was no way around it, or it would be a source of pain, abscess and infection in the future and negatively impact her health. I was very concerned about having this procedure done given her age, but he said a large portion of his practice was high risk animals, and he had no hesitation at all in doing the procedure. He called me during the procedure and said that her dental disease was much more extensive than he originally thought and that she needed an additional 14 teeth extracted. I was very concerned about this, but he said that there was a lot of infection in her mouth, and she would be like a new dog after this was done and everything would be fine. I wish now that I had not agreed to this, because my dog was never the same again. He hurt her, and he could not have cared less. Dr. Gingerich is arrogant and I do not believe he really cares about the animals he treats (he sure did not care about my dog) as much as he cares about the money he takes in. Everything is about money with him. I paid over $3,500 for what he did to my dog. There was never any follow up, he never called to see how she was or what was going on. The only call I got was from his office, asking how I wanted to handle the balance on account. Even giving him 1 star is too much, but there is no way to rate him ZERO and leave a review. read more