Dental Care for Your Pet

Bad Teeth Can Lead to Pet Health Problems

Neglecting your pet’s dental health can create the potential for other health problems. Bacteria that proliferate during the course of gum disease can spread through the blood and, over time, may harm your cat or dog’s heart, kidney or liver.

By being vigilant, you are taking a significant step toward lengthening your pet’s life.

Ensuring a Thorough Cleaning

Your pet can’t understand what’s going on when the veterinarian begins to put dental instruments in its mouth. You might be willing to sit still while a hygienist does their work, but you could never expect a dog or cat to do the same.

Your veterinarian can only do their job if your pet has been put under general anesthesia. You pet won’t feel pain during the cleaning and there will be no resistance to what needs to be done to fully inspect and clean its teeth.

While under anesthesia, your pet will have a tube in its throat to support breathing. This will also prevent it from inhaling any bacteria that are released into the air during the cleaning.

What a Professional Cleaning Includes

A professional tooth cleaning for your cat or dog involves a number of things:

• • Removing visible tartar and plaque
• • Cleaning out any tartar and plaque that is found under the gum
• • Looking in your pet’s dental sockets for signs of disease
• • Gently polishing your pet’s teeth to remove scratches, to help prevent future accumulation of bacteria
• • Taking x-rays to determine whether there are unseen dental issues below the gum line
• • Applying a sealer on the surfaces of the teeth
• • If necessary, removing or repairing infected or fractured teeth requiring immediate attention
• • Inspecting the mouth, tongue and lips of your pet

In the same way that your dentist does, the veterinarian will create a chart of your pet's mouth, recording what was found during the cleaning and examination. This will be used as an ongoing record of your pet’s dental health and a guide to future care.

After Cleaning

To make sure that you sustain the benefits of a cleaning as long as possible, it’s a smart idea to implement a regimen of home care. This may be especially important if your veterinarian’s examination indicates that your pet is at risk for future problems.

Here are some of the actions you can take at home to help keep your pet’s teeth and gums healthy:

• • Brush your pet’s teeth daily with a child’s toothbrush, or with a finger brush supplied by your veterinarian. You can use pet toothpaste, which comes in flavors such as chicken and seafood.
• • Provide your pet with treats and food that can help prevent the formation of plaque. The staff at Silver Lake Affordable Animal Care Hospital are knowledgeable regarding the best products that are available.
• • Use rinses and oral sprays to reduce the number of potentially harmful bacteria in your cat or dog’s mouth.
• • Give your pet a raw bone once a week. Chewing on this is not just pleasurable for your pet, it helps to keep its teeth clean. However, you’ll need to pay attention while your pet works on the bone and be sure to take it away if a large piece becomes small enough for them to swallow.

Removing Pet Teeth Requires Skill

The teeth of carnivores such as dogs and cats are designed for different uses than our teeth. They are for cutting, not for chewing.

The roots of their teeth go deep into surrounding bone, so that they are able to grab and tear with the necessary force and strength. Because of this, it’s actually more difficult to extract the tooth of a cat or dog than to extract the tooth of a human.

You’ve entered into the world of dental hygiene in order to improve your pet’s quality of life, and the last thing you want is for an extraction to be performed in a manner that leaves your pet in more pain.

The veterinarians at Affordable Animal Care Hospital in Silver Lake can provide these services to the highest standard, resolving chronic dental issues and reducing the chance of new ones.

Pet Tooth Extraction

The roots of your pet’s teeth can be close to blood vessels, nerves, the eye and the nasal cavity. As is the case with cleaning, your pet will be under anesthesia during an extraction.

After a tooth is extracted, the “socket” that remains is surgically closed. This will reduce the pain your pet experiences and it will also help healing progress more quickly.

Post Surgery

After an extraction, your pet should be able to eat as normal. The “grab and gulp” approach to eating that is characteristic of carnivores does not involve much chewing, or consistent pressure against the gums.