Dental Health | Brownsburg Animal Clinic

Gloved hands pulling back a dogs upper lip to examine teeth

Time to Focus on Your Pet’s Dental Health

By their third birthday, 80% of dogs and 70% of cats have some form of periodontal disease, leading to progressively worsening infections and inflammation of the gums and bone that surround and support the teeth. Most of this dental disease happens below the gum line, where you can’t see it.

As the disease progresses to more advanced stages, you may observe these signs:

Bad breath
Broken or loose teeth
Discolored or tartar-covered teeth
Abnormal chewing, drooling or dropping food
Reduced appetite or refusal to eat
Pain in or around the mouth
Bleeding from the mouth
Swelling in areas around the mouth

If left untreated, dental disease can cause your pet to lose teeth and, if infection spreads into the bloodstream, can damage your pet’s heart, liver and kidneys with potentially deadly consequences.

Treating and even preventing periodontal disease is a joint effort between your veterinary team and you. Here’s what we can do.

How Your Veterinary Team Can Help

Our veterinarians routinely make a dental health evaluation and counseling part of your pet’s regular yearly (or twice-yearly for older pets) preventive exam.

If, during our visual inspection of your pet’s teeth and gums, we detect signs of periodontal disease, we will most likely recommend a complete dental examination and cleaning, provided our initial physical examination and blood work confirm your pet is healthy enough to undergo the anesthesia necessary to do the exam and cleaning thoroughly and safely.

Before we begin, we will let you know the estimated cost of the procedure and any possible additional services we may find we need to provide, such as extracting teeth, once we begin the exam.

We understand you may be concerned about anesthetizing your pet for the dental procedure. Although there are always risks associated with anesthesia, the process is generally safe and we take every precaution to assure the procedure goes smoothly.

If you have questions about our anesthesia protocols, please ask them!

Once your pet is under anesthesia, we proceed with a complete, stress-free, pain-free oral exam with x-rays to show us any problems beneath the gum line such as broken teeth and damaged roots, bone deterioration, abscesses or infections.

Next, we clean your pet’s teeth thoroughly, including under the gum line, followed by scaling and polishing.

After the procedure, your veterinarian will give you a full report on the state of your pet’s dental health and advise on any aftercare needed when you come to pick him or her up.

How You Can Help

Brushing your pet’s teeth regularly—ideally, daily—is the most effective thing you can do to maintain your pet’s dental health between cleanings and slow the progression of any developing periodontal disease.

Daily brushing at home can reduce the frequency or even eliminate the need for professional cleanings, so it is well worth the effort.

Unfortunately, only a small percentage of dog and cat owners brush their pets’ teeth. A 2016 marketing survey conducted in Canada reported only 7% of dog owners said they brush their dogs’ teeth daily. In Sweden, only 4% of dog owners reported daily brushing.

According to the AVMA, “Although daily tooth brushing is advised for dogs and cats, a study published in the Journal of Veterinary Dentistry showed that only 2% of dog owners follow through with this practice.”

We haven’t come across reliable research data on tooth brushing by cat owners, but we’d estimate very few of our cat-owning clients brush their cats’ teeth.

Despite the discouraging statistics, we hope you will be willing to give tooth-brushing a try. For written instructions, here’s a news release from the AVMA documenting the process.

While brushing your pet’s teeth is the most effective home dental health care, your veterinarian may also suggest alternatives such as dental treats, chews, diets and water additives.

The Veterinary Oral Health Council, which has been awarding its VOHC Seal of Acceptance to dental health products for pets since 1998, lists accepted products for dogs and cats on its website.

You’ll find many of these products and more available in our online store. Just search for “dental” to see our full line of dental health care products.

Your veterinarian will be happy to recommend the best products for your pet.

A Common, Preventable Disease

Periodontal disease is the most common clinical condition we diagnose in our adult patients, but as the statistics show, we have plenty of opportunity for improvement!

Besides the low rate of regular tooth-brushing by pet owners, the AVMA reports a survey of pet owners showed that only 14% of dogs and 9% of cats receive dental care at the veterinarian’s office.

We can do better!

By working together to provide regular professional and home care, we can detect periodontal disease early and perhaps even prevent it entirely. Your pet will be healthier and more comfortable, and you will avoid the stress and expense of dealing with advanced periodontal disease. So let’s collaborate now to improve and maintain your pet’s dental health.

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Dental Health Care

Dental Health / Dr. Brady

Dental health for pets begins at home with regular brushing. Some of our clients or their groomers scale built-up tartar off pets’ teeth, too.

But brushing and scaling are not enough. In fact, scaling without professional polishing creates micro-fissures in the teeth where plaque can adhere, leading to even more tartar build-up.

A professional dental cleaning , done under anesthesia, allows all surfaces of the pet’s teeth to be scaled, polished and examined for defects. We also examine the gums, tongue and the rest of the oral cavity and take full-mouth x-rays to examine teeth below the gum line. The part of the tooth showing above the gums–the crown–can look great, while there can be serious issues going on with the roots.

The benefits of the dental procedure in our office can be supplemented by home-care. To give you an idea of what’s involved, here’s a video about dental home-care for dogs.

Here’s one about how to brush your cat’s teeth.

For your convenience, we carry dental health care products in our online store.

To Learn More

For more information about your pet’s dental health, including helpful home-care products that really work, we recommend the Veterinary Oral Health Council web site. Products with the VOHC Seal of Approval produce the best results and are safe for your pet. Several of these products are available at our online store.

Read the story of Dr. Brady’s late boxer Cal’s dental procedure.

Dental Health Care Read More »

Brownsburg Animal Clinic dental procedure

Cal’s Dental Procedure

Cats, Dental Health, Dogs / Dr. Brady

Given the importance of dental health care for pets, I want to give you a behind-the-scenes look at my own boxer—General Stubs Calhoun—and his visit to the clinic for a dental cleaning and exam. I hope this post will not only answer any questions you may have about what goes on during a dental procedure, but also show you that I personally consider dental health care essential for all pets, including my own.

Clinic staff member doing a dental procedure

Clinic team member monitoring a patient during a procedure

Cal turned seven this past July. It had been two years since his last dental cleaning.

As a boxer, Cal is at higher-than-average risk for a condition called gingival hyperplasia, causing his gums to proliferate and grow so extensively as to cover his teeth. Cal has this condition, so in addition to cleaning his teeth two years ago, we did a gingival resection, in which we removed the excess gum tissue in several areas of his mouth. He recovered very nicely and had been doing just fine.

But several months ago, we noticed Cal was not chewing his rawhides the way he used to, and he had a slightly pungent odor to his breath. I did a physical exam, finding a little tartar and a few areas of gingival hyperplasia. I didn’t see any obvious signs of abscessed teeth. Still, I knew something was wrong, so I decided to bring him in for a complete dental exam, including full-mouth dental radiographs (x-rays).

The procedure started with the necessary preanesthetic blood work to make sure Cal had no underlying health issues that might make anesthesia too risky. Once we had Cal under anesthesia, we did our radiographs and found several fractured teeth. The fractures were below the gum line, so there was no way to see them–even with a regular dental cleaning and probing–without the x-rays.

We extracted the cracked teeth and resected the overgrown gums. We scaled and polished the remaining teeth.

Cal has recovered very well. He did need to eat a soft diet for about 10 days, but after that, resumed eating his usual dry kibbles. And he’s back to enjoying his rawhides!

I understand it can be a little scary to consider putting an older pet like Cal under anesthesia for a dental cleaning. That’s why we take measures to minimize the risks.

We require blood work within the past six months to be sure all organs are functioning well and able to handle the medications we use.
We use the safest anesthesia available.
All pets have intravenous catheters and receive fluids throughout the procedure.
While one technician cleans the teeth and makes the x-rays, another focuses throughout the procedure on monitoring the patient’s oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, electrocardiogram, heart rate, blood pressure and temperature using monitoring equipment very similar to what you would find in a human hospital.

Still on the fence about scheduling your pet’s dental appointment? Here are some additional resources from the American Veterinary Medical Association, including links to a dental health quiz, videos to help you teach your pet to accept home tooth-brushing and even more information about the “whys” of dental health care for your companion animal.

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