Dentistry
Veterinary services
Veterinary services
Overview
Dental hygiene in dogs and cats is just as important as in humans. If left untreated, mouth infections can cause bad breath, excessive salivating, inflammations, reluctance to eat and gum problems. This can also lead to serious health problems with the heart, lungs, and kidneys.
Therefore, we recommend an annual veterinary health examination for all pets. Regular checkups and timely treatment can help prevent chronic pain and infection, and the need for oral surgery.
Make an appointment for a dental examination of your pet
What are the main reasons for the appearance of dental problems?
Some of the reasons include feeding animals with food intended for human consumption and lack of daily oral hygiene. Additionally, you need to take extra care if you feed your pet primarily wet food (e.g. canned food or pouches).
Wet food doesn’t provide a mechanical way of removing debris from the teeth like dry food and may stick more easily to teeth.
How can I keep good dental hygiene at home?
You should start getting your pet comfortable with getting their teeth brushed at an early age – around 2-3 months for cats and dogs. While you don’t need to start seriously brushing their teeth until they lose their baby teeth (at around 5 months of age) it is necessary to get them accustomed to the procedure.
When you do start brushing their teeth you need to use special toothpaste, as the ones meant for people can cause bowel irritation and other problems. Keep in mind that it takes time and patience for the animal to get used to getting its teeth brushed.
When should I seek professional guidance?
Some of the signs that might warrant a visit to the vet include bad breath, yellowish-brown teeth, dark-red gums, changes in the way of eating or sensitivity around the mouth.
Evaluation and cleaning of teeth
Cleaning an animal’s teeth is quite similar to cleaning a person’s, except that we are required to use anesthesia. During the cleaning, our veterinarians perform a thorough examination and check for signs of disease such as inflammation of the gums, exposure of roots or pockets around the root.
We can also take X-Rays of the mouth. This allows our veterinarians to assess the roots of the teeth, as well as find any disease or abnormalities that are located below the gum line and are not visible during examinations.
We try our best to save as many teeth as possible, however in many cases the periodontal disease is so advanced that treatment without extraction is unsuccessful.