Pet Dentistry

Recent studies have shown that up to 70% of dogs and cats have oral disease by their third birthday. Oral disease is usually silent- when it starts there are no outward signs or symptoms. However once it advances, oral disease can cause devastating changes in your pet’s mouth, causing chronic pain, eroded gums, missing teeth and bone loss. 

Dogs and cats develop dental disease 5 times more often in dogs than in people. There are things we can do to slow the progression of disease. Brushing your pet’s teeth is regarded as the best preventative, however most pet owners would not have time to do this twice a day for 12 years! Regular bones or chews will help reduce the incidence of oral disease. For pets that are reluctant or unable to spend time chewing bones etc, specially formulated diets can greatly reduce the incidence of disease. These diets have cleverly constructed kibble designed to clean the animal’s teeth as they chew.

If dental disease is already present a thorough descale (removal of plaque) and polish is necessary to prevent the periodontal disease progressing to tooth or bone loss. Dental cleaning and polish is done under general anaesthetic, which also provides the opportunity to individually assess each tooth (including x-raying diseased teeth if required). In animals with more advanced ginigivitis, post- surgical antibiotics can help to completely eliminate harmful bacteria.

If you’d like to bring in your pet for a dental checkup, please get in touch with us to make an appointment.