Dental Care

Dental disease is not only painful for your pet it can seriously affect other organs in your pet’s body, threatening the comfort, health and potentially shortening the life span of your beloved family member. With dental infections, bacteria and bacterial globulin aggregates are continuously shed into the blood stream from the many vessels in the inflamed gums and tooth sockets in your pet’s mouth. These bacteria can spread infection elsewhere such as the lungs, liver, kidneys and heart valves sometimes causing permanent damage. In addition the bacteria and antibody or globulin complexes can clog up the filtration portion of the kidneys leading to permanent loss of kidney cells. Once a kidney cell is damaged it will never recover nor be replaced by the body. The bacteria in an infected mouth is the reason for severe halitosis (bad breath) and can lead to throat infections and coughing. It is best to have your pet’s teeth cleaned and polished regularly to PREVENT dental disease and these other associated diseases.

To properly treat and assess the dental health of your pet, these procedures are performed with specialized equipment under general anesthesia. We have gone to great expense to ensure your pet is well monitored under the safest anesthesia possible.
We will perform a pre-anesthesia physical exam to look at overall health, listen for heart murmurs or arrhythmias, listen to the lungs, palpate the throat and abdomen and peripheral lymph nodes. If abnormalities are found additional procedures may be recommended, such as chest x-rays.

Pre-anesthesia bloodwork is highly recommended to confirm adequate kidney and liver function.

Typically an anesthetic injection is given. This will sedate your pet, reduce stress, and provides pain control. Your pet will be intubated to protect the airway from water and debris during cleaning and insure ventilation. We use safe and modern anesthetic protocols and computerized electronic ventilators. EKG and pulse oximetry monitors will be running throughout the anesthesia. Pets wake up minutes after the procedures are completed. We provide warmth during and after anesthesia to prevent the body from cooling and keep your pet as comfortable as possible.

The teeth will be cleaned with the latest in ultrasonic scalers to remove tartar and protect the surface enamel. We will then probe around each tooth to determine if there is any periodontal disease.We will treat gum disease if indicated. Sometimes a deep pocket in the sulcus adjacent to the tooth root can be filled with an antibiotic gel in an attempt to save the tooth and stop the infection without removing the tooth.

We will extract any tooth we feel is diseased and/or causing pain. Extracting teeth requires additional time, instrumentation and skill. Only the doctor will extract teeth and there will be additional charges for this service. We have the instrumentation to allow safe extractions in as little time as possible.

We will then polish the teeth to restore a nice smooth surface to the enamel to help delay the recurrence of plaque and tartar.

We will apply a final antibacterial rinse to the teeth and gums.
Additional pain medications and/or antibiotics may be prescribed if deemed appropriate.

You make an excellent decision in having dentistry performed. We can not over-emphasize the importance of a healthy mouth. The accumulation of plaque and tartar leads to gingivitis and infection, which results in tooth loss. Left untreated, oral infections will affect the heart, lungs, kidneys and liver. We can return your pet's mouth to the best oral health possible. The problems will soon return unless steps are taken at home to prevent dental disease. There are a variety of ways this can be accomplished, from brushing to rinses, dental chews, enamel sealant or dental diets. Please ask for a home dental plan tailored for you and your pet.