Dental

Pets Need Dental Care Too!

Maintaining the health of your pet's teeth is one of the most important things you can do to increase the comfort and length of your pet's life!

Pet dental care is important because:

• Pets with gum infections are uncomfortable, even though they may not show it.

• Gum and tooth disease can lead to endocarditis (heart valve infection), kidney and other organ infections.

• Your pet will be much better company with no "bad breath."

• Your pet will enjoy life without pain of sore gums and abscessed teeth, and your pet health care expense in later years will be reduced.

Cleaning your pet's teeth requires:

• Pre-anesthetic bloodwork to be sure your pet is in good health before general anesthesia is administered.

• Anesthesia is required to do a thorough, painless job. The part of the tooth under the gumline must also be cleaned. Our sedatives are chosen with your pet's utmost safety in mind.

• Scaling of the teeth to remove tartar above and below the gumline is done with both hand and ultrasonic cleaning equipment.

• Polishing the teeth after scaling is important to smooth the tooth surfaces, making them more resistant to new plaque formation. Without polishing, dental specialists agree we do very little good.

• Fluoride coating decreases tooth and gum sensitivity, strengthens tooth enamel, and decreases the rate of plaque formation.

• Antibiotics are always required in veterinary dentistry because some degree of tooth and gum disease is usually already present. Injectable antibiotics are used routinely. Oral antibiotics may be prescribed depending on the severity of inflammation and infection, or if any extractions are necessary.

Please call our office for more information about our Dental Awareness Days!