I would give back every dollar of that surgery for one cheap habit I skipped when she was young. By the time the vet said anesthesia, the plaque had been building for years. I never saw it. She seemed fine the whole time. You cannot brush a senior cat and treats do nothing once they are gone. The one thing that works is something she chews on her own every day. Purriq makes a silvervine stick she treats like her fav toy, and the rough wood and sisal scrape the plaque off before it turns into a surgery. It will not fix teeth already lost, but for a cat who still has hers it is the small daily habit that helps keep her off the table. Sixty days. If she does not chew it, you pay nothing.