Dentistry and Dental Disease
Dental health is a sadly neglected area in our pet’s lives. We are always saddened when an animal is presented to us with severe dental disease where extraction of multiple teeth is the only treatment option available. Our concern is that this poor animal has probably put up with years of pain and discomfort as a result of the sore gums and rotting teeth. One of our goals is to try to prevent this from happening and to educate pet owners as to how this can be prevented.
The reason we brush our teeth on a daily basis is to prevent the buildup of plaque on our teeth. Plaque is a film of bacteria that covers our teeth and is hard for us to see unless we use a disclosing solution to stain it pink. If plaque builds up it can become calcified to form hard calculus or tartar on our teeth, which harbours even more bacteria. Plaque spreads under the gum line around the teeth where it causes inflammation of the gum known as gingivitis. In some dogs and cats this may then progress to periodontal disease where the ligament holding the tooth within its boney socket is broken down, ultimately loosening it and causing it to fall out. During this time the inflammation causes pain and discomfort.
Signs of dental disease can include inflamed gums, receding gums, loose or missing teeth and just bad breathe. To detect problems like periodontal disease we need to probe under the gum line and this is not possible in the conscious animal. This is one of the reasons why we need to give a general anaesthetic to our pets for dental treatment. Modern anaesthetics and monitoring equipment make this process safer and we normally have our animals on drips during the procedure to help maintain blood pressure. While under the anaesthetic we carefully examine and chart the mouth before deciding upon an individual treatment plan - this may include extraction of loose or rotten teeth, removal of plaque and calculus both above and below the gumline using our new ultrasonic scaler and polishing of the cleaned teeth. If necessary we can refer more complex cases to a Specialist Veterinary Dentist. Using local anaesthetics and other pain relieving medications make recovery after dental procedures much more comfortable for your pet than in the past.
How do we prevent this situation from developing? There’s a large variety of “dental” dog foods, dental chews and water additives available to help reduce the amount of plaque on teeth, together with the feeding of raw bones in the diet. However, the most effective way to keep plaque at bay is by brushing the teeth on a daily basis, just like we do! Unfortunately, not all our pets are very co-operative when it comes to tooth brushing, some won’t chew bones and others dislike the dental foods and chews.