Dental
Why is Pet Dental Health so Important?
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Imagine what would happen if you didn’t brush your teeth regularly. The same applies to your pet’s teeth. Regular dental care is as important for your pet as it is for you.
Did you know that periodontal disease is the most common infectious disease in both dogs and cats? In fact, 85% of adult pets have some form of periodontal disease. If left untreated, that can mean pain, bad breath and tooth loss for your pet. Chronic infection in the oral cavity can spread harmful bacteria to the bloodstream and infect the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. One milligram of plaque alone contains over 1 trillion bacteria—bacteria that can cause disease. Fortunately, most periodontal disease can be prevented by daily plaque removal and regular professional care. - cetuniversity.com "Pets have Teeth, too"
Dental Treatments
Most dental treatments involve ultrasonic scaling to remove calculus from the teeth followed by charting, which is a process that measures the depth of any pockets around the teeth roots. Deep pockets, if they exist, indicate the presence of some degree of periodontal disease wherein some of the supporting bone may have been lost or the tiny ligaments that secure the teeth in their sockets have broken down. The teeth are checked for soundness, fractures, cracks, laxity, etc. If all is okay, teeth are then polished to make it more difficult for bacteria to adhere to their surfaces followed by a fluoride polish and rinse.
Dealing with Problem Teeth
Teeth that are not sound are treated accordingly. Many times this means extraction of a tooth that is loose, abscessed, fractured (especially if there is exposure of the pulp canal, which can give bacteria access to the tooth root), or, in the case of cats, a "cavity" is present. Some teeth that have pockets that are not too deep and have mild gingival recession are candidates for root planing, in which the exposed portion of the root is scraped to remove food particles, plaque, hair, etc. and treated with a topical antibiotic product to promote reattachment of the gingiva.
Cats are a special case. They have cells called odontoclasts that, for reasons not totally understood, break down the enamel of teeth at the gum line, creating a hole that appears as a red spot on your cat's tooth. These lesions can be painful, as evidenced when this spot is probed with a thumbnail, when the cat will suddenly jerk the lower jaw in pain. Many cats continue to eat normally despite having several of these lesions present. Over time, the erosion will continue and the crown of the tooth will crack off, leaving the stump. The gingiva will eventually grow over the area to protect it and the roots remaining will be reabsorbed. In some cases the gingiva will form a collar around the tooth, covering the defect before the crown has broken off. The only treatment available is extraction; these lesions cannot be "filled," as they are not true "cavities."
Protocol
All dental procedures at Northwood Hills Animal Hospital require some form of sedation, usually general anesthesia. We use isoflurane gas, which is used in human hospitals, for anesthesia.
All pets are monitored closely while anesthetized and older pets also have IV catheters and receive intraoperative fluids to help support heart rate and kidney function; blood pressure and blood oxygen levels are also watched. Pain control is very important and we employ dental nerve blocks along with preoperative and postoperative pain medications.
The dental procedures are nearly all exclusively performed by our specially trained veterinary technicians. They attend annual continuing education to keep them current and they are very competent and very gentle.
Common Concerns
Many owners worry that their pets will not be able to eat well if they lose any teeth. The truth is that these pets do just fine; if anything, they eat and feel better because painful, rotting teeth have been removed and they are more comfortable. It is always a good idea to offer your pet soft food for a few days after a dental procedure if extractions were performed until the sites heal, and afterwards the majority of pets go back to their regular diets.
