What they do at my vet is do an oral exam & any indicated work if/when the animal is put under anesthesia for another reason. For instance one of our dogs has b

What they do at my vet is do an oral exam & any indicated work if/when the animal is put under anesthesia for another reason. For instance one of our dogs has been needing 1-2 surgeries a year for the last couple of years (mast cell tumors) and has wound up with a variety of tagalong dental work. It's not perfect but seems like a happy medium. In particular it scales a bit with age as older animals are going to be more likely to need such surgeries.