Dental Care for your pets

During an annual exam for your pet, your veterinarian may have told you your dog or cat needs a dental cleaning. However, many people don’t understand exactly what that means. Is the vet brushing your pet’s teeth? Why do they need to be “asleep” for it? Below is a basic outline for dental cleanings in pets!

Step 1: First step is to have your vet do an oral exam on your pet.

·         During this time, the veterinarian will assess things like degree of plaque buildup, gingivitis (inflamed gums), or gum recession (how much gum loss there is over the tooth). This will allow the veterinarian to discuss things like obvious extractions that may be needed. However, remember that there can be more dental disease hiding underneath that tartar, so this is why the cleaning itself is so important!

Step 2: Schedule the dental and drop your pet off to the vet’s

·         Once you arrive, vet technicians will typically check vitals on your pet (temperature, respiration rate, pulse) and run blood work. The veterinarian will then do an exam on your pet and review the blood work results to make sure that your pet is a good candidate for anesthesia.  Once it’s determined that anesthesia is a safe option, an IV catheter is placed to give your pet fluids and other medications to help keep them stable and comfortable under anesthesia.

Step 3:  The cleaning

·         Once your pet is placed under anesthesia, an endotracheal tube is placed into their trachea to protect their airways from any excess water while the teeth are being cleaned. This tube also allows oxygen and anesthetic gas to flow into your pet to keep them at a safe anesthetic plane.  The teeth are then cleaned and polished by a veterinary technician, while a veterinarian oversees the whole process.

Step 4: Assessing the teeth

·         Once your pet’s dental cleaning is finished, any teeth that are loose, broken, discolored or otherwise suspicious looking will be further examined, probed and x-rayed. If the teeth are found to be diseased, a local anesthetic block will be applied and the tooth will be extracted.  Some teeth have several roots, so the use of a gum flap and drill are needed- this is why we are so careful to use pain medications in our anesthetic protocol as well as local nerve blocks.  

Step 5: Recovery

·         Once the dental treatment is finished, your pet is woken up and our vet team oversees their recovery. They typically will go home to their pet parents that afternoon. If there were extractions, they may also go home with pain medications.

As you can see, there is a whole lot more to a “dental cleaning” than just brushing you pets teeth! Most people find that their pet is happier and perkier after a dental cleaning, especially if they had bad teeth (just think how crummy you feel when you have a tooth ache).  Your pet will thank you (and their breath will stink less!) 

article by:

Dr. Erin Walsh

Companion Animal Hospital Mount Prospect