Our vet is amazing but last year he was away when our cat need her yearly checkup, the covering vet said our cat's teeth needed a full scale and polish which would need to done under a general anesthetic and cost over 400 quid. She was only 5 and a half at the time and had never had anything mentioned about her teeth. It felt very salesy and I didn't think it was necessary to put her through it, I did buy some dental food to mix with her regular food though. This year back with our regular vet, he did a much more thorough check and didn't even mention a problem with her teeth. I think in the end you have to go with what you think is best.
This is basically what I was going to say above and edited. We were pushed into exactly that by a covering vet too, I am not convinced it was necessary either.
Our vet is amazing but last year he was away when our cat need her yearly checkup, the covering vet said our cat's teeth needed a full scale and polish which would need to done under a general anesthetic and cost over 400 quid. She was only 5 and a half at the time and had never had anything mentioned about her teeth. It felt very salesy and I didn't think it was necessary to put her through it, I did buy some dental food to mix with her regular food though. This year back with our regular vet, he did a much more thorough check and didn't even mention a problem with her teeth. I think in the end you have to go with what you think is best.