Dental Care for Your Pet

Although it is often overlooked by pet owners, regular dental care is an important part of your pet’s health care program. Advancements in veterinary medicine continue to help us provide better care for our four legged friends. Mirroring human medicine, veterinary health care and wellness programs have significantly extended the quality and length of many animals’ lives. By maintaining clean teeth you can help your pet avoid periodontal disease as well as diseases of the kidney, heart and liver. In addition, you can help to prevent oral cavity pain associated with infections of the teeth and gums. Maintaining a healthy oral cavity for your pet requires home examinations, routine brushing and a yearly cleaning by your veterinarian.

Although it takes some time out of your daily schedule, dental care is easy once you understand the basics. The first step to good dental care for your dog or cat is learning how to examine their mouth. A home examination allows you to evaluate your pet’s teeth and begin to recognize early signs of dental disease. Once you have identified problem areas in the mouth you can begin an appropriate preventive program. Your veterinarian and his or her staff can show you where your pet is most likely to develop tartar and help you learn proper brushing technique.

Brushing for two minutes per day can help maintain a healthy, pain free mouth for your companion. Although daily brushing is ideal, less frequent brushing will still provide a significant benefit for most animals. Make sure you use a pet specific toothpaste, such as C.E.T.^® poultry flavored paste for dogs and seafood flavor for cats. In our experience, these flavors seem to increase tolerance.

There are additional products that can help make routine care even easier. Your veterinary staff can show you oral rinses that help to break down plaque, as well as chew toys like the Dental KONG^®, that aid in preventing dental disease. Also available are diets that can help retard tartar build up. One example of this is the Eukanuba^® line of pet food which utilizes the same technology found in Crest^® toothpaste. These products are not adequate on their own, but when combined with regular brushing, are valuable assets in maintaining good oral cavity health.

Additionally, your pet will need a yearly exam and teeth cleaning by your veterinarian. Like humans, even pets whose teeth we regularly brush will need an annual scaling and polishing to ward off dental disease. Annual cleanings help to assure that your pet will keep his teeth into old age. Good oral care also helps to prevent many systemic diseases, as the mouth can be a source of harmful bacteria for your pet’s organs. Ask your veterinarian to help you develop a program that will work best for your pet.

Listed below are additional commonly asked dental care questions:

What will happen if I don’t do any dental care?
Pets that don’t get any routine dental care are likely to develop excessive plaque and tartar, which eventually leads to gum disease. Most of these patients will experience oral cavity pain and/or tooth loss at some point in their life.

Can my pet get his teeth cleaned without anesthesia?
No. In order to properly scale and polish your pet’s teeth, an anesthetic episode is necessary. However, with modern anesthetic agents the risks associated with anesthesia have been greatly reduced. Prior to the dental, blood tests and a physical examination can assess a pet’s organ function and heart condition, thus enabling your veterinarian to identify higher risk patients. During the dental procedure, medical equipment that monitors heart rate/rhythm and blood oxygen level helps your veterinarian keep your pet safe.

How much does a dental cleaning cost?
A routine dental cleaning with necessary pre-anesthetic blood tests and physical examination will cost approximately $300 (please call our office for an exact estimate for your pet). This price includes a dental exam, pre-anesthetic blood panel, pre-anesthetic sedative, IV catheter, anesthesia and monitoring, scaling and polishing, antibiotic injection, take home brushing kit, sample C.E.T.^® chews, and a review of your pet’s dental condition. Non-routine procedures, such as extractions and root canals, drive costs higher. At your pet’s annual physical examination, ask your veterinarian to give you an estimate for a dental cleaning based on the current condition of your pet’s mouth.

Source: Jason Hammer, DVM, Preston Animal Hospital; Cary Magazine, 2005

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