When was the last time your pet had a dental check-up, a thorough dental cleaning under anesthesia and an oral exam to assure there are no growths in the mouth or under the tongue?
If you aren’t sure or you visited a vet who said, we can’t really do a good oral exam because your pet is too touchy around his face, then it’s probably time for a thorough examination of the teeth, gingiva, and lymph nodes surrounding the head and neck.
Another scenario which is too common is the instance of a client asking the vet, “Can’t we just wait on the cleaning, and I will brush them at home?”. If your pet falls into the “We will wait to schedule a dental cleaning until his teeth are really bad” category, a dental cleaning is also overdue.
February is National Pet Dental Health Month. This is the month that veterinarians remind pet owners to pay attention to their companion’s oral health. Many of veterinary practices offer value-added services or discounts on dental procedures or oral health care products.
So, why all the fuss about whiter teeth and fresher pet breath?
There are several important reasons to pay attention to the oral hygiene of dogs and cats:
1. Most pet owners are pretty up close and personal with their companions, and some allow more than a lick on the face. With pets sometimes kissing their owners, the bacteria and infections in pets’ mouths can be passed to the humans in the household. Cutting down on gingivitis means less harmful bacteria which can be transmitted to humans. Plus, no one wants to be greeted by doggy breath, or kitty halitosis.
2. Good oral hygiene reduces the risk of heart, kidney and liver infections which are life threatening.
3. Chronic infection and inflammation in the mouth of pets increases C-reactive protein in dogs and Feline haptoglobins. Those elevations increase the risk of your pet developing cancer. Decreasing oral infections and extracting infected teeth, helps to decrease the risk factors for developing cancerous conditions.
4. The benefits of performing oral exams and cleanings under anesthesia are numerous, including full inspection of the back teeth, gums and areas under the tongue, tonsils and throat. I have personally diagnosed and removed numerous benign and malignant tumors from the oral cavities of pets, during routine dental cleanings. Early detection is often life-saving.
5. Regular dental cleanings reduce and prevent painful and costly dental surgeries, including emergency oral abscess treatments.
6. Dental x-rays enhance the veterinarian’s ability to treat bone loss, and early abscesses with appropriate antibiotic therapy, while more serious abscesses and dental infections may be best handled with extractions. In both cases, most pets never complain or miss a meal, but deal with long term infections and pain. You can help your pet avoid this situation through regular cleanings.
7. The blood work and preanesthetic tests most veterinarians perform prior to a dental cleaning provide lots of useful information about your pet’s health. This makes anesthesia safer and is an opportunity to check the internal organ functions which are not evident on physical examination.
Here are some signs you can look for at home to see if your pet is suffering with poor oral hygiene:
1. Bad breath 2. Discolored teeth, missing or broken teeth
3. Inflamed gums, bleeding gums or a red line above the teeth
4. If you press on the gums and pus or discharge shows up along the gumline, then there is pyorrhea or infection under the gums
5. Facial or jaw swellings or tenderness
6. Excess salivation, discolored saliva, rubbing the face or licking the roof of the mouth
If you see any of those signs, make a visit to the vet.
These signs will not be remedied by feeding dry food, dental treats, peppermint flavored dental rinses for dogs or using essential oils. Those preventative measures help maintain oral health once it is restored, but they will not remedy an infection which has reached below the gumline.
Your veterinarian will help determine the urgency of the problem and explain the ideal procedure to restore oral health.
What can you do, if your budget doesn’t allow for a dental cleaning right away? Talk to your veterinarian about therapies, like antibiotics, laser treatments, and topical products to reduce infection and pain, until you can schedule a dental cleaning.
Keep in mind that you may save some cash on pet dental care procedures during February 2019.