Teeth removal predicament

I took my bun for his nails trimmed last year and when the vet looked at his teeth she said he was missing most and the few remaining were in a bad way. She said surgery was an option but my mum wasn't keen (expense and risk of the bunny not making it through) and because he was doing okay and didn't seem to be suffering then it wasn't vital. He went to the vets again last week and she had another look at his teeth, they were in the same way but still not visibly bothering him. He gets a bit of discharge around his eyes but otherwise he's a happy bunny. He's a bit of a fussy eater though, obviously he can't chew hard things and he takes a while to eat grass etc but he does manage. He does eat a lot of soft fruit/oats, probably more than I'd like but often it's my mum feeding him and she's adamant that if he's lived like that for 7 years it's not doing him any harm. If surgery would help him then I'd be for it 100% but my mum is persistant with her claims that he's doing fine the way he is. The vet said that if he starts salivating then he'll need the surgery done and my mum would take him if that happened, and obviously if he was suffering, but she's convinced the risk of him dying outweighs anything else.
Basically I'm wondering if it's doing him any harm? The vet said he'd start salivating if the teeth were poking into the soft tissue but I'm worried he's in pain without that happening. I'd be all for having it done if it would help him, just obviously a bit worried about the chance of him not waking up from anaesthetic. But if he's not in any pain then is it worth just leaving him the way he is? Any advice?

hi hun....im sorry but if an infection starts from bad teeth..it never shows up early enough and before you know it you have abscess problems and belive you me thats not something you want to inflict on your bunny

i dont understand..has he had his teeth out is that why you say he has a load missing? is this the back or front teeth? cos rabits teeth dont just fall out..they grow all the time and are deep open rooted teeth not like ours. If the ets saying hes lost a lot of teeth then id take him to a different vet!! this one cant be very used to rabbits!
the mily white disharge is caused by the buns tooth roots..they get too long and then theycan grow right up to the edge of the jawbone ive even seen one horrific picture where a bunny had its tooth roots actualy grow right thorugh the jawbone to the outside and curl right back to grow back in..it was full of abscesses aorund the site too..poor thing must have been suffering so badly

the milky white dishcharge is cuased by the upper tooth roots growing too far into the jaw and even sinuses and pressing on the tear ducts. this leads to multiple eye infections after a while.

7 is a good age for a bun...the eldest ive ever had is my little girlie bun whos 4 and a half....
the problem is as they age they tend to get more health probs esp teeth.

i had a bun who could only eat pellets and cut up soft fruits and sme fine chopped herbs..he oculdnt eat hay even tho he was desperate to..he had a huge tooth root abscess which then got so bad it was twisting his front teeth so far round they were side on instead of front on.
they did what they could for him( taking out all his front teeth and cleaning the abcess) but not long after it had either regrown or spread or a new one next to it had formed..he got very sick and within 24hrs he had to be pts.

please please ask your mum to ask around for anyone who knows a rabbit vet. your bunny will be in pain already but it wil make him bad tempered too..like when you have toothache earache or neckache or headache...but for him if will affect him like he had all together at the same time

i hope someone on here whos more experinced than me can help you.
good luck