Does your pet’s breath smell?  Don’t mistake this with “just ate dinner” breath, or “found something strange outside and put it in their mouth” breath. If your pet has bad breath all the time, that’s one of the first noticeable signs of dental disease.

By age four years, 85% of dogs and cats show signs or oral disease, so it’s important to keep those teeth clean!  There are several signs of periodontal disease in pets including bad breath, difficulty chewing, oral discomfort, and blood-tinged drool.

There are many ways of improving your pet’s dental health. Starting when your pets are young brushing their regularly (at least three times a week) is by far the best way to decrease the risk of dental disease.  Using a pet ‘finger brush’ and specific pet toothpaste, you can gently work around the gums and teeth, brushing in the direction from the gums to the crown of each tooth.  Regular dental exams, dental chews and water additives can also reduce any build-up of hard tartar forming at the gum line.

As nearly 2/3 of a tooth is under the gum line it is tough to fully check for dental disease by just looking. When hard tartar builds up it presses on the gums, which recede in response exposing the root. This gap is soon filled with more tartar and the problem continues until the teeth are loose and the sockets become infected. This can lead to tooth root abscesses and even bone abscesses.  Under anaesthesia it is easy (and comfortable!) to thoroughly probe under the gum line, 360 degrees around each tooth root, for cavities just like when we are at the dentist.

Periodic ultrasonic scale and cleaning removes heavy tartar, flushes bacteria from under the gum line and polishes the enamel, making it difficult for new bacteria to stick to the tooth.  Hand scaling alone in a conscious patient is at best cosmetic and at worst, incomplete, missing the inner surface of the teeth, between the teeth and under the gum line.

Always remember to check your pets teeth regularly; make it part of your play or grooming session each week.  Prevention is better (and cheaper) than cure, so “Open up and say Ahhh!!!!”