We believe that keeping your pet’s mouth healthy is the single most important wellness procedure to add quality longevity to your pet’s life. As a result, we will spend some time at every wellness visit talking about what you can do to keep your pet’s mouth healthy. We have the capabilities to do dental cleaning, polishing, fluoride treatments, extractions and root canals. Dental radiographs are an important and necessary tool to make professional dental care effective. We use digital radiographs to get the most accurate image of the animal’s mouth.
To make every dental as safe as possible, we incorporate all of the following procedures prior to and during a dental procedure.
Pre-anesthetic testing is advised and strongly recommended. These tests include blood work, urine testing, ECG and a complete physical exam of each pet.
- Pre-med sedation is given which makes the procedure safer and less stressful for the pet.
- IV fluids are started and induction anesthesia is given by IV.
- Every animal is intubated and put on gas anesthesia, either Isoflurane, or Sevoflurane.
- An anesthetic monitor is connected to the patient. This monitor records heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, and blood pressure.
- SylvaniaVET uses a state of the art veterinary dental unit, with an advanced dental scaler.
- A registered Veterinary Technician checks each tooth for pockets or lesions, measuring and charting any abnormalities as they clean the teeth.
- The dental suite in our building contains 2 prophy tables with radiographs. Dental radiographs help us pinpoint problems below the gum line so we can decide of a tooth needs to be removed. If a tooth needs to be removed, the dental technician will use a nerve block.
- As with our surgical patients, dental patients receive pre and post procedure pain medication and antibiotics if necessary.
- Only Veterinarians are licensed to pull teeth. First, they elevate the gum line to expose the root of the problem tooth, then the roots are individually loosened.
- Lastly, after the tooth is removed, the gum tissue is sewn closed with sterile surgical suture. During the go home appointment, each doctor will discuss at-home dental care. We carry many products to aid you in keeping your pet’s mouth healthy: from tooth paste and brushes to chew toys and treats, to special foods and supplements.
Our doctors do everything they can to save teeth, rather than extract them. If a tooth root is more than half exposed, the tooth must be removed. Loose teeth are painful and must be removed. To save a broken tooth, we can do a root canal. This is especially important with the large K-9 teeth.
All our dental technicians are members of the Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians.
Following the procedure, your pet is recovered by a hospital team member. It is not returned to its kennel space until it can sit up and walk.
Check out this slide show of before and after dental procedures!
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