Have you noticed a bad odor coming from your pet’s mouth? Is he or she having problems chewing hard food? Has your veterinarian mentioned that your dog or cat needs some dental work?
Unchecked dental disease can certainly lead to bad breath, but these infections of the mouth are hazardous to the whole body! The abnormally high bacterial numbers and resulting inflammation caused by dental disease can lead to infections in other areas as well, such as the heart, liver, and kidneys.
Not to mention pain—lots of our patients have painful mouths as a result of decay of the teeth, gums, and surrounding structures. Eventually, disease can lead to the teeth becoming loose and falling out on their own, but this process may take months or even years and our pets suffer in the process.
Our veterinarians and technicians are trained to recognize the different forms of dental disease and can make recommendations to you about the best course of action for your pet. Sometimes, only brushing at home is involved. Other times, this involves putting your pet under anesthesia and performing several procedures while he or she is asleep.
Since there is the possibility that the physical exam alone will not identify all of your pet’s health problems, we recommend that a pre-anesthetic blood profile be performed prior to anesthesia.
Before your pet undergoes anesthesia, an intravenous (IV) catheter is placed, then taped in and fluids are started. This helps maintain blood pressure and volume. Adverse effects of low blood pressure include compromising vital organs such as the kidneys, brain or heart, and also slowing recovery from anesthesia.
Before any cleaning is done, a full oral exam is performed noting any diseased, broken or missing teeth. Any tumors, lesions, or abnormalities will also be noted.
Next, the larger pieces of calculus (tartar) are removed using dental forceps.
After the larger pieces of calculus are cleared away, the remaining calculus and plaque are removed using the Ultrasonic Scaler.
At this point, the doctor will perform a complete oral exam and make decisions on which teeth will need treatment or extraction.
Sometimes dental radiographs are required to determine whether a tooth root is healthy or diseased. They are also used to see if there is any part of the root left after extracting a tooth.
When a tooth is found to be diseased, it must be extracted by the doctor. Depending on the number of roots the tooth has, it may need to be split using a high-speed dental drill. Once the tooth roots are separated from each other (or if it’s a single-rooted tooth) the tooth is extracted by hand using a dental elevator. Some teeth require gum flap surgery and bone removal in order to extract them.
After the tooth is extracted, depending on the size of the opening, the doctor may close the site with suture. The sutures will dissolve on their own.
The final step is polishing the teeth. A special polish is used to help smooth the teeth. This helps prevent tartar build-up.
Occasionally an animal’s deciduous teeth, or baby teeth, will not have been pushed out by the adult teeth. If the baby teeth aren’t removed, it may cause crowding and possibly discomfort. It is easiest to remove them at the time of their spay or neuter, however, they can be removed at any time.
An important part of dental health is a good home care program. There are many different products available to aid in keeping teeth healthy and clean. These range from chews, treats and food to oral hygiene rinses, toothbrushes, and toothpastes. Brushing and rinsing in combination with dental treats and food will help to prevent future build up of calculus.