Dental care is an often overlooked, but necessary part of your pet’s health.
At Mandalay, we recommend checking your pet’s teeth once yearly. Regular home dental care and consistent physical exams can help prevent issues, such as foul breath and oral problems.
Periodontal disease is the most common dental condition in both cats and dogs. By the time your animal is 3 years of age, they will likely have some evidence of early periodontal disease. If preventative measures are not established, the effects of the disease will worsen.
Causes of Pet Dental Problems:
Although cavities are less common in pets than people, they can have many of the same tooth issues that we experience:
Broken teeth and roots
Periodontal disease
Abscesses or infected teeth
Cysts or tumors in the mouth
Misalignment in the teeth and/or bite
Broken/fractured jaw
Palate defects
Signs Your Pet Needs Dental Care:
Some pets become irritable when they have dental problems. Any changes in your pet’s health should be checked out by a veterinarian. If you notice any of these symptoms, an appointment sooner is better than later:
Bad breath
Broken or loose teeth
Extra teeth or retained baby teeth
Discolored teeth, or teeth covered in tartar
Abnormal chewing, drooling, or dropping food
Reduced appetite or refusal to eat
Pain in or around the mouth
Bleeding from around the mouth
Swelling in areas around the mouth (i.e. nose, eyes, throat, etc.)
Periodontal Disease:
Despite its name, periodontal disease effects the whole body, not just the teeth and mouth. Left untreated, it may cause:
Pain, lethargy, bad breath, coarse coat
Emaciation or deterioration of body form
Tooth loss
Sinus infections
Sepsis (infection of the blood stream)
Decreased lifespan or premature death
In addition to these, periodontal disease may advance or increase the risk of contracting:
Autoimmune disease
Diabetes mellitus
Infection of the heart, lungs or kidneys
Heart failure in both cats and dogs
Cancer
Arthritis and/or spinal diseases
Periodontal disease begins with plaque on your animal’s teeth that hardens into tartar. Plaque and tartar above the gum line is easier to spot and treat, but tartar below the gum line allows the breeding of bacteria. This promotes infection below the gum line, as well as damage to the jawbone and the roots that connect teeth to the jaw. Periodontal disease is graded on a scale from 0 (normal) to 4 (severe).
The good news is that periodontal disease can be treated via an anesthetized dental procedure in which we physically remove the plaque and tartar. Pets with more severe cases sometimes require the removal of teeth that are beyond recall.
What does a dental procedure involve?
For any animal undergoing anesthesia, we highly recommend bloodwork prior to the procedure; however, for any pet over 7 years of age, we require bloodwork to be done previously. Blood work measures the values of the organs, such as liver and kidneys, to make sure there’s no underlying concerns before they go under anesthesia.
Your pet will spend most of the day with us for their procedure. When it’s their turn for surgery, we will place an IV catheter. The IV catheter allows us to deliver the initial anesthesia, as well as antibiotic and pain injections, and IV fluids that help to support blood pressure during the time they’re under anesthesia. We use the lowest effective dose of anesthesia for each animal, customizing an anesthetic protocol for each based on their bloodwork.
We first clean each tooth with an ultrasonic scaler, removing plaque and tartar above the gum line so all parts of the teeth may be examined. We then clean under the gum line to remove any bacteria and plaque - this is one of the most important steps. The subgingival plaque and bacteria is what causes periodontal disease. We then examine your pet’s mouth for any abscesses, loose or broken teeth, and/or pockets of bone loss. Dental radiographs are an essential part of the dental plan, just as they are in humans. As 50% of the tooth is below the gum line, it’s not possible to fully examine the whole mouth without radiographs. Dental x-rays allow us to discover painful hidden problems, such as root abscesses/fractures, bone loss, or tumors/cysts. If we notice any teeth that have to be removed, we pull ONLY the teeth necessary to help your pet. We then polish the surface of the teeth to make them smooth, decreasing the adhesive quality of the plaque. Scaling and polishing of the teeth causes buildup under the gum line, so we flush under the gum line with an antibacterial solution to remove the debris. Lastly, we flush the mouth with a fluoride solution that strengthens enamel, decreases tooth sensitivity and helps to prevents plaque buildup. We then wake your pet up from anesthesia and will call you to inform you about the procedure and set up a pick-up time. We will keep them for a few hours after they wake to observe them and make sure they’re okay to go home.
Why do we need to anesthetize your animal?
When you go the dentist, you know what is happening and the benefits of the procedures being done. The dentist can communicate with you and you try your best to sit still with help from the dentist’s techniques to avoid pain and discomfort. Unfortunately, we cannot inform your pet that what we’re doing is for their aid and that they need to sit still; they react by moving, trying to escape or even biting.
Anesthesia allows us to perform dental procedures safely and without the added stress and pain. In addition to this, it allows us to perform a thorough cleaning since your pet is not moving around, as well as take clear dental radiographs. We perform dental radiographs on all our patients undergoing a dental procedure, and a key part of this step is making sure the animal is very still - anesthesia allows us to get good images the first time.
Although anesthesia does have its risks, it’s safer now than ever before and continues to improve. The benefits of anesthetizing your animal for procedures far outweighs the negatives. All our patients can go home the same day as the dental, although they might be groggy for the rest of the day.
Many places will advertise “anesthesia-free” dental procedures. Because periodontal disease can only truly be treated under anesthesia, these non-anesthetic procedures should be treated as cosmetic, not medical. A cleaning without anesthesia only allows the outside of the teeth to be cleaned; the bacteria under the gum line is still there, and that is what leads to bad breath, periodontal disease, and damage to tooth roots and bone structure.
https://afd.avdc.org/what-is-an-anesthesia-free-dental-cleaning/
Preventative Care
The best way to hinder your pet from experiencing dental disease is to regularly perform preventative care at home. The most effective method is brushing your pet’s teeth with a pet-friendly toothpaste. Daily brushing is best, but not always feasible with everyone’s schedule, so a couple times a week is also an option. Many dogs will learn to accept and sometimes enjoy having their teeth brushed, but cats are more challenging.
There are specific diets that are made specifically for dental health and can be fed as a full-time diet. Dental chews and treats are an also an excellent way to help slow the spread of dental disease. Daily use of chews and treats will help to keep your pet's teeth clean and the gum tissues and bone around the roots healthy. There is also the option of a water additive to help with dental disease. The additive is diluted in your pet’s water and helps to rid their mouth of bacteria with every sip they take.
If you have any questions regarding preventative care or want to check if your dental chews are veterinarian recommended, we suggest looking at www.vohc.org. This is the website of the Veterinary Oral Health Council, a collection of veterinary dental specialists that endorse animal oral health products. When buying any oral health merchandise, look for the VOHC seal.