Need for Dental Care:
Our four-legged friends need dental care too. Dental disease can cause not only bad breath, gingivitis, tooth decay and loss, but it can also cause damage to your pet’s kidneys, liver, and heart. Therefore, maintaining a healthy mouth is a great way to help with your pet’s overall health.
What is a dental prophylaxis (cleaning)?
A dental prophylaxis is just like a cleaning for a human, except our patients don’t sit quietly and say ahhh! General anesthesia is required to complete a dental prophylaxis. Your pet’s pet’s teeth are scaled, polished, and flouride treatment applied. In some cases an ultrasonic scaler is utilized to remove the large amounts of tartar, then hand scaling is used to work in small areas and to work under the gum line.
Polishing is done not only to freshen your pet’s breath, but to remove the tiny etching that can occur on your pet’s teeth during the scaling process. By leaving a smooth surface it is not as easy for bacteria to accumulate which will eventually lead to plaque and tartar.
To finish a dental prophylaxis a flouride treatment is applied. This helps leave the enamel stronger and also freshens your pet’s breath.
Potential Problems with your Pet’s Teeth
One of the most common problems associated with pets’ mouths is plaque/tartar and gingivitis. To check if your dog or cat has gingivitis lift up his/her lip and look for a bright pink to reddish line right above and below your pets teeth. Gingivitis means bacteria! Some gingivitis is so severe that the bacteria actually travel through the blood stream to the heart, liver, and kidneys. By having a dental prophylaxis completed on your pet, gingivitis is reduced when bacteria-ridden tartar and plaque is removed.
Sometimes your pet may have caries (cavity) in which the most common treatment is extraction of the tooth. Holes in the teeth can lead to pulp and nerve exposure which is very painful for your pet. By removing the tooth, the source of pain and potential infection is removed. At Windsor Animal Clinic we utilize the use of dental x-rays to visualize the whole tooth if needed for extraction.
Pre-surgical Bloodwork
In many cases, especially due to the age of your pet, Dr. Cripps may elect to perform pre-surgical bloodwork. This is a good way to “take a peek” into your pet’s metabolic function of organs such as kidneys, liver, check glucose levels for diabetes, and other important factors such as hydration status. This allows Dr. Cripps to make sure your pet is healthy enough to undergo anesthesia.
Anesthetic Monitoring
At Windsor Animal Clinic we believe monitoring anesthesia is of utmost importance. We monitor EKG, pulse oximetry (oxygen saturation in the bloodstream), oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange, and heart rate. Along with state of the art monitors, there is always a technician present to do “hands on” monitoring.
Prevention is key
As stated above monitoring your pet’s oral health is very important. If a dental prophylaxis is recommended it is a good idea to pursue. If oral health is ignored your pet may develop periodontal disease, abcesses, teeth that must be extracted, and of course may negatively effect kidney, liver, and heart function. All this is prevented by maintaining good oral health.
So at your next visit, pay close attention to Dr. Cripps recommendation regarding your pet’s teeth and oral health. In the long run you are helping to maintain a healthy pet…after all pets have teeth too!
