Pet Dentistry
Just like dental care in humans, dental care in pets plays a vital role in their long-term health. Dental care is not just something to make your pet’s breath fresh, it’s vital wellness care just like an annual wellness exam.
Pet Dentistry
We understand the difficulties that pet owners may face when it comes to pet dental care. While we humans brush our teeth twice a day, every day, pets might have their teeth brushed once a week (if ever). Additionally, many encounter an uphill battle in making their pets comfortable having their teeth brushed. It is for this reason that our team prioritized educating and empowering our clients, and providing proper guidance so that their pets are happy and healthy for a long time. We like to say that the most important wellness ritual you can do for your pet to keep them happy and healthy is to keep their mouth clean!
Many people may not understand what goes into dental care for their pets. Just think about yourself and if you didn’t brush your teeth for a year, you can imagine how much tartar would accumulate in your mouth. Just like in people, gingivitis, plaque, and tartar in pets affects their entire system including the heart, heart valves, kidneys, liver, and immune system.
What goes into dental care?
Dentistry in pets requires general anesthesia and general anesthesia for most pets requires our team to check their bloodwork. We do bloodwork to make sure the pet’s organ systems are functioning appropriately and they’re safe for anesthesia. If they’re under general anesthesia, pets will need to be on IV fluids during the procedure to maintain their blood pressure. For example, it’s no different than a human going in for gallbladder removal. Your doctor is going to make sure that it’s safe to anesthetize you. We as veterinarians have the same concerns and protocol for your pets!
You can rest assured that our expert team is comfortable and experienced with anesthesia, even in older pets. When we anesthetize a patient for dental, we have specifically trained staff who are monitoring anesthesia. We have the newest technologies in anesthetic monitoring equipment for us to make sure the pets are safe.
Along with Bloodwork, Anesthesia, IV Fluids, and constant monitoring, we (just like your own dentist) X-ray the entire mouth of the pet because most dental diseases are found under the gumline. Your pet’s teeth are much like an iceberg. You cannot look at the teeth and know if they’re healthy because the rest of the story lies beneath the gumline. There have been circumstances where the pet’s teeth appear healthy, then we find 2-3 abscesses beneath the gumline. Taking X-rays allows our team to assess whether or not we need to perform extractions or look for oral tumors.
At the same time, we scale and polish the teeth, and apply fluoride. Finally, we utilize the laser at the end of the treatment to decrease inflammation of gum tissue.
We understand that the cost and steps that go into pet dental care can be overwhelming, but we hope that through lots of education, you as a pet parent can feel empowered to plan ahead and make the best choices for your pet’s dental and overall health. It is our goal to provide a clear understanding of each step and the reason behind it. Furthermore, having your pet’s teeth cleaned each year makes the procedure go faster, saves you money in the long term, and prevents them from needing extractions.
One of our favorite parts of our work is seeing older patients who still have all fantastic teeth intact!