Canine and Feline Dental Care

We recommend dental care for your canine and feline friends not only for cosmetic reasons but for frequently overlooked effects on the whole body as well. Anyone who has ever had a toothache knows what a big impact that has on your life, yet there are many pets that eat, drink and play normally while hiding their serious dental discomfort for years. Chronic gingivitis (gum inflammation and infection) causes the gum tissue to bleed and allows all the bacteria that accumulate on the teeth under layers of tartar to infect the rest of your pet's body. This can lead to kidney, heart valve and liver disease.

Signs of dental disease are:

Bad breath
Visible tartar buildup on teeth
Gingivitis
Missing teeth
Trouble chewing food
Visible cavities (cats can develop a disease called Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions that causes visible cavities in their teeth)

Keep in mind that people brush their teeth twice a day and floss regularly and in spite of that we need to have a dental cleaning done every six months. There are differences in susceptibility to dental disease between different breeds of dogs, different dogs of the same breed and between dogs and cats. Regular at home dental care is essential for your pet but most likely your pet will need a dental cleaning at some time. Please join us on a photo tour of Marley's dental cleaning.

Marley's Dental

To do a thorough dental cleaning Marley will be anesthetized. Any procedure requiring general anesthesia carries risk but we try to minimize that by doing pre-operative blood work, keeping him on IV fluids throughout the procedure as well as using appropriate injectable and gas anesthesia drugs.

You can see below that Marley has a lot of tartar on his teeth and also has significant gingivitis. Look how red and swollen his gums are. This tissue is very tender and bleeds easily. Normal gum tissue is pink and not thickened where it touches the teeth.

Cleaning

We start by breaking off big pieces of tartar; this shortens the procedure time when compared to removing tartar using only scaling. This is only applicable for pets with significant tartar buildup like Marley.

Using an ultrasonic scaler all tartar is removed from the surface of his teeth. It is important to remove tartar under the gum line as well. Removing sub gingival (under the gum) tartar is a very important step as this is a major cause of gingivitis. Sub gingival scaling can only be done with your pet asleep and that is why it is not enough to just break off tartar in the exam room when your pet comes in for a visit.

After a thorough cleaning all the teeth and gums are evaluated to see if there are any loose teeth or gum problems that might necessitate extractions. Fortunately Marley did not need any extractions. Cats with Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions most likely will need to have the affected teeth extracted.

Polishing

The teeth are polished using a polishing cream and an electrical polisher. This step is important as cleaning off the tartar leaves a rough tooth surface which makes it easier for new tartar to form. Polishing the teeth leaves a smooth surface which helps to retard new tartar formation.

We apply a fluoride treatment to help dental health after cleaning. We also offer an optional first application of Oravet a product that helps to form a barrier right where the tooth and gum comes together to retard tartar formation. You need to re-apply this product weekly at home after cleaning.

Results

Let us compare how Marley's teeth looked before we started and how they look now. Please note that you can see that there are a few spots where you can still see a brown discoloration on his canine teeth. These are stains on his teeth and they can not be removed by dental cleaning but they do not pose any health risks to him.

Maintenance

It is essential to take preventative steps at home to ensure your pets' dental health. We do offer products to help you with at home dental care for your pets.

Brushing is the best form of preventative care you can do. Never use human toothpaste to brush your pets' teeth. There are different flavors of pet toothpaste available as well as toothbrushes designed to make brushing your pets' teeth easier. CET dental health has instructions on how to brush and also manufacture dental chews and oral rinses to assist in at home dental care.
Dental rinses can help to reduce the amount of bacteria in your pets' mouth and in that way improve dental health.
Dental chews help with oral care both by scraping along the tooth surface when pet chew and some are coated with antibacterial products to promote dental health.
Dental diets help to clean teeth by scraping along the tooth surface and keeping teeth clean.
Oravet is a new product that forms a barrier on the tooth to prevent tartar formation.

Please note that all these products work best when you start with a clean mouth so start introducing dental care to your puppy or kitten.