Janet Jones - Special to the Fitzhugh
February is pet dental health month.
Why do we designate a month for dental health in pets?
Just as with people, dental health is imperative for overall health but unlike people pets are unable to practice oral hygiene. So that means it falls to the pet’s family to make sure that its mouth is healthy and to veterinarians to make sure their clients understand the importance of dental and oral health.
To facilitate this, February has been chosen as the month to highlight dental care for pets.
We often don’t think much about our pet’s teeth but having a healthy mouth is critical to over health.
If there is tartar on the teeth then that leads to inflamed gums or gingivitis. Gingivitis in turn allows bacteria to get into the bloodstream where they can spread to places like heart valves and kidneys and cause serious and even life-threatening disease.
Eventually all the bacteria on the teeth and inflammation in the gums causes gum recession and deep pockets under the gum line allowing bacteria to spread around the roots leading to loose and rotten teeth and finally tooth loss.
During this process, which may take months or years, the body must fight the ongoing infection which is hard on the immune system and may weaken its ability to fight off other diseases, especially in older animals.
And of course this is painful.
Many of us have experienced the pain of an infected tooth and it can be excruciating.
Animals feel the same pain but they do not react the same way.
It is common for them to continue as normal, eating and chewing on toys, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.
They will often just chew on the other side or not chew at all, and they are much better at just carrying on in the presence of chronic pain.
Animals are programmed to not appear weak so it has to be very painful for them to show significant clinical signs especially with chronic discomfort.
That means it is very difficult for us to determine if our pets mouth is painful or not just by their behaviour.
So what do we do about it?
We should regularly check our animal’s mouth looking for discolouration of the teeth, a foul odour, accumulation of tartar which looks like brown plaque on the teeth, swollen and
red gums and broken or missing teeth.
Sometimes the only thing we will see is more tartar on one side compared to the other which indicates the pet isn’t chewing on that side and that probably means it is painful.
There is also a particularly painful condition that is much more common in cats, called feline odontoclastic resorptive lesions where the tooth is being resorbed along the gum line causing inflamed gums and defects in the tooth.
If you see any of these things then a trip to the vet is warranted to determine the extent of the problem.
Often pets don’t like us to look in their mouth but it can more easily be checked by your friendly veterinarian or veterinary technician.
Once a veterinary professional has checked the animal’s mouth there may be further examination that is warranted.
It is often hard to determine exactly what is going on just by looking especially if there is a lot of tartar covering the teeth.
The best course of action at that stage is sedation or anesthetic to allow a complete dental examination, including probing and dental x-rays.
Usually this is combined with treatment that involves ultrasonic scaling and polishing of teeth and extraction of any diseased teeth.
This can be a lengthy and involved procedure, depending on how bad the tartar is and how many teeth have to be removed.
The alternative though is much worse – a painful mouth with progressive damage to gums and teeth that will only get worse over time and that will affect your pets overall health and
quality of life.
There are also several things you can do to prevent dental disease before it starts or once the teeth have been cleaned.
An individual plan can be decided on by your veterinary team during a visit to check your pet’s dental health.
So this month, do your pet a favour and look in its mouth – you may be surprised by what you find.
Dr Janet Jones DVM is the owner of the Jasper Veterinary Clinic, a full service clinic with a satellite clinic in Valemount, British Columbia. Call 780-852-5551.
