Have you noticed your pet's breath is strong or unpleasant? Or that their teeth are not white but actually tan to brown? If so, then your pet is probably suffering from some degree of dental disease. It is very important to monitor your animal's oral health for a number of reasons:

1. Dogs, cats, and ferrets with significant dental disease, tarter build-up, gingivitis, and/or pyorrhea (gum infection) have foul breath and are unpleasant to be around simply from the odor.

2. These same animals also have a higher incidence of disease or failure of the liver, kidneys and heart. The infection found in the gums and tarter can enter the bloodstream at that level, circulate throughout the body, and settle out on these organs and start an infection there. Over time, this infection can destroy these organs and ultimately become life-threatening.

3. Studies show that pets whose owners have diligently worked to maintain their oral health live an average of 3-5 years longer than those that don't.

4. Fractured teeth may expose the root of the tooth, which can act as an open track for infection to spread to the bone of the jaw and cause infection there.

5. If the teeth and gums are diseased enough, the mouth can be so sore that the pet will not eat well enough to maintain their weight and nutrition at optimal levels.

Proper dental care requires a partnership between the pet owner and the veterinarian. The owner provides proper diet, daily dental care (brushing with approved pastes and brushes, oral rinses or gels, specialized dental diets, and/or enzyme-impregnated chews), and scheduling routine dental/oral exams and cleanings. The veterinarian provides the dental examination to help inform the owner of the dental health of the pet and to give the owner the available options to improve that dental health. These options may include any and/or all of the following:

1. Dietary counseling
2. Instruction on proper home dental care (brushing, etc.)
3. Dental cleaning (dental prophylaxis) when needed
4. Antibiotics to combat infections
5. Extractions of abscessed or fractured teeth when necessary
6. Root canals (endodontics) either in house or via referral when indicated
7. Removal of any abnormal growths in the mouth or near the teeth which may be early forms of cancer

Many people do not understand exactly what transpires during dental prophylaxis. In most cases, the pet is placed under general anesthesia; then the teeth are "scaled", which involves physically removing the tarter through a combination of hand instruments and sonic instruments. The areas under the gums are probed to remove any other tarter and to check the depth of the pockets. The teeth are checked for fractures, defects, cavities (caries), or looseness. The teeth are then polished to remove microscopic cuts and grooves. Finally an antiseptic rinse and fluoride treatment are added.

Quite often, antibiotics will be needed at some point before, during, and/or after the procedure to limit the spread of infection from the mouth to the other organs.

It is also highly recommended that these pets have pre-anesthetic blood work performed before the procedure to help minimize the risks that are always associated with anesthesia. This service is not required, but again, is highly recommended.