Dental hygiene for pets is often overlooked.
Dental hygiene is just as important to your pet’s overall health as nutrition, proper exercise and routine grooming.
Plaque builds up on the teeth and turns into tartar or calculus. These areas grow bacteria and eat away at the teeth and gums. Bad breath, oral pain and tooth loss can occur due to bacteria. However, the bacteria not only cause disease in the mouth they can also affect other parts of the body, like the heart, liver, and kidneys. The most important thing to do is address dental disease as soon as it is detected, no matter how minor. Best way to keep healthy mouth and teeth is prevention and treatment.
Most dental procedures will require general anesthesia and pre-anesthetic blood work. Blood work will generally consist of a Complete Blood Count and a serum chemistry profile. Complete Blood Count would check for anemia, allergies, infection, and dehydration. The chemistry profile checks organ function, mainly kidneys and liver and it also checks blood sugar. This gives an opportunity to find any hidden disease and as well increases anesthetic safety by choosing the right protocol for an individual pet. Under anesthesia, all vital signs are monitored and an extensive oral exam will be conducted. This will allow the doctor to examine any loose, broken, or missing teeth along with any oral tumors or lesions. The gums around the teeth are probed and any pockets are noted.
The next step is to scale and polish much like what happens at a human dentist. In certain cases, broken teeth or loose teeth will need to be extracted or a root canal will be recommended. Infected teeth or gums need antibiotics and pain medications during and after dentistry.
My pet has bad breath. Are bad teeth and gums the cause?
What actually causes the bad breath when tooth or gum disease is present?
What is the difference between plaque and tartar?
What can happen if my pet's teeth aren't cleaned?
But my pet is only 3 years old! Isn't this an 'old dog/cat disease?'
How often do my pet's teeth need to be cleaned at a veterinarians facility?
Contact Denville Animal Hospital today!
279 West Main St Denville, NJ 07834