Hey, It's Pet Dental Health Month

It's that time of year again. Every February it's time to help educate pet owners about the importance of dental health for both dogs and cats. 

Dental disease is a serious health issue for dogs and cats and it's one of the most common problems they face. In fact, The American Veterinary Dental Society indicates that fully 80% of dogs and 70% of cats have some form of oral or dental disease by the time they reach the ripe old age of three.

 

Most of us people spend a fair amount of time taking care of our oral health. We brush and we floss and most of us visit the dentist at least once per year, if not twice. Few of us give our dogs and cats the attention they need. While we may have heard from our vets that we should be doing something at home daily, or at least weekly, most of us can't get past the sticking our fingers in our pet's mouths part.

 

It's really easier than we think and not half as gross as the aroma of periodontal disease-induced doggie or kitty breath. If you'd like to get started on your own pet home care plan here's a great video covering the basics.

 

Besides bad breath, dental disease in dogs and cats can lead to serious health issues. Unchecked plaque and calculus build up can lead to gingivitis and periodontal disease. This in turn can progress to oral infections, tooth loss and even kidney and heart disease. That's why you need to see the veterinarian for periodic exams and dental scaling and polishing.

 

On a number of occasions I've heard comments from friends and neighbors along these lines. For instance, "I just took my dog to the vet to have his teeth cleaned and it cost more than taking the kids to the dentist." That can be true for a number of reasons.

 

First of all, most of us have dental insurance which covers much of the fee the dentist charges. There are Pet Health Insurance policies available that help defray these expenses for our pets, but most of us don't take advantage of them.

 

When you think of routine pet dental care and human dental care there are other very significant differences. Routine pet dental scaling and polishing is really much more involved than your semi-annual visit to the dentist. There is generally more work to do because dogs and cats don't get the same level of daily care that people provide themselves. 

 

In addition, a thorough cleaning of each aspect of the tooth including the area under the gum must involve general anesthesia to be done correctly. Can you imagine your Rottweiler or Siamese sitting still for this? Oh,there are people that will tell you they can clean your pet's teeth without putting them to sleep but they will not do the job correctly. An annual dental scaling and polishing should be done by a trained veterinarian or specially trained veterinary technician under a veterinarian's supervision.

 

In many cases the entire procedure includes an exam and pre-anesthetic screening, including lab work, to make sure your pet is healthy enough for the anesthetic. Intravenous fluids and electronic monitoring of your pet's vital signs and post procedure medications are often included in the total cost. All of this is designed to help make sure that your pet not only gets good dental care but that the procedure itself is safe.

 

In the end, it's worth the time and expense to help keep your pet healthy. Heck, I just put a set of new tires on my old truck and that set me back a lot more than most people will pay for annual dental care for the pooch or kitty.

 

I'm not all that attached to that stupid truck, either.  

Comments

[dentists in los angeles]

It's really easier than we think and not half as gross as the aroma of periodontal disease-induced doggie or kitty breath,this is very informative i didn't know this before thank you so much for this entry.

by: florence

[dentist glendale]

Dental disease is a serious health issue for dogs and cats and it's one of the most common problems they face, so its good that there's have a way on how we prevent thsi.

by: alpha

[the three dog blogger]

Glad you brought this up.
It is very important. We spent a fortune in the past because our Dog had bad teeth.

You need to stay on top of it from when they are very young.

Coincidentally I wrote a post about this not so long ago about how to clean a Dogs teeth. It should never be overlooked.