Oral Hygiene
Poor oral hygiene in dogs and cats results in periodontal disease. Periodontal disease is damage to or inflammation involving the tissues around the teeth and results in loss of attachment of the teeth to those tissues.
When pets are presented for a dental cleaning, often they have substantial gingivitis and periodontitis, and almost certainly have been enduring significant discomfort or pain. Even if the effects of gingivitis and periodontitis are limited to pain and discomfort it represents an unnecessary deterioration in the quality of life of your best friends.
Periodically, you should examine your pet's teeth and look for any of the following symptoms:
· Persistent bad breath
· Sensitivity around the mouth or inability to close the mouth
· Pawing at the mouth
· Loss of appetite or reluctance to chew hard food or chew toys
· Difficulty eating and chewing food
· Bleeding, inflamed, or receded gums
· Plaque (often not visible unless stained)
Dental Scaling and Polishing
A ‘teeth-cleaning’ visit is a lot more than removing tartar from teeth. Our goal is to restore your pet's mouth to its normal, fresh, healthy state. Having your pet's teeth professionally scaled and polished is one of the most important medical treatment you can give that will result in long-term health.
Some pets are wonderful about letting their owners manually scrape/remove the tartar from their teeth. While this improves your pet’s appearance, unfortunately it is not adequate dental care. Tooth infection and decay and bad breath occur because of the bacteria below the gum line. This can only be removed with sub-gingival scaling which is performed as part of your pet’s teeth cleaning.
A comprehensive oral examination and charting is performed at the time of the teeth cleaning. Charting a patient's mouth is the recording of abnormalities in a pet's medical record for future reference or to design a treatment plan.
Dental Radiology
In order to diagnose and create your pet’s dental treatment plan, the complete extent of existing pathology must be known. Radiology is essential in accessing this information. We utilize dental radiology to see pathology hiding below the gums or inside the teeth, evaluate an area where teeth appear to be missing, or follow progression of periodontal disease. We can also use dental radiology for pre-purchase exams on show dogs to see if the proper number of teeth exist.
Extractions and Oral Surgery
Our Veterinarians offer a range of treatments including extraction of loose or fractured teeth and retained deciduous teeth, dental abscess treatment, removal of oral tumors and repair of traumatic injuries to the jaws.
Retained Deciduous Teeth (baby teeth) should be removed during the course of treatment. The removal of retained deciduous teeth is an inexpensive, simple way to prevent major problems from developing in the adult dentition. All retained teeth should be extracted as soon as the condition is recognized. These teeth may also be extracted during your pet’s spay/neuter.
Oral tumors are very common in dogs and cats. Many of these tumors can be successfully removed with surgery. In many cases oral tumors cause a great degree of discomfort or are bleeding and need to be removed to allow your pet to be more comfortable.
Traumatic Injury to the teeth or jaw will be treated with utmost care. There are many treatments for repairing injuries. Your veterinarian will assess and recommend a treatment plan individualized for your pet.
Anesthesia
For most dog and cat owners, anesthesia is the biggest barrier to providing appropriate dental care for pets of all ages, not just canine/feline senior citizens. Age is not a disease, and mature pets that are otherwise healthy are generally able to tolerate anesthesia for an elective procedure. Even though anesthesia safety will continue to improve, there will never be a time when there is no risk. The question is really whether the level of risk is appropriately measured against the damage to your pet’s quality of life if it does not have a dental procedure.
Contemporary anesthesia that is being done today is much safer in several ways.
First, pre-anesthetic testing helps us to recognize those pets that are having functional problems that aren’t yet recognizable at a clinical level, and allows for stabilization or further work-up as indicated.
Second, inhalant gas (Isoflurane) is much safer today and having a cuffed endotracheal tube in the trachea prevents aspiration of fluids or vomit. We do not recommend Sevoflurane anesthesia any longer due to the possible risks of kidney damage to our smaller patients.
Third, monitoring pulse rate and quality, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, respiratory rate, allows our veterinarians and technicians to detect trends and initiate therapy to avoid anesthetic problems.
Fourth, we use fluid therapy delivered by intravenous catheter during anesthesia to maintain vascular volume and blood pressure.
Home Care
Research has shown that when the teeth are cleaned a number of bacteria find their way into the circulatory system. Antibiotics will be sent home with your pet to treat these free floating bacteria. It is important to give this medication as directed.
Moulton Animal Hospital recommends daily brushing of your pet’s teeth to remove plaque and slow the accumulation and development of calculus. Also, by looking in your pet’s mouths on a daily basis, you will be more likely find problems before they get serious enough to cause lasting problems. Regularly brushing the teeth requires exceptional commitment, but yields the best benefits for your pet.
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