Oral health is an essential part of your pet’s overall care. Dental disease is painful and can lead to bacteria spreading to your pet’s heart, liver and kidneys. The most important thing you can do is start brushing your pet’s teeth at an early age.
Signs of dental disease are not limited to dirty teeth. Even if your pet’s teeth look normal, dental disease can be eating away at his/her roots. Often the first sign will be bad breath with or without discoloration.
With each preventative care exam, we thoroughly examine your pet’s mouth, teeth and gums. If there is disease present, it is important to have the teeth and gums cleaned under anesthesia and a tooth-by-tooth examination performed by the veterinarian. As the majority of dental disease occurs below the gum line, it is essential to anesthetize your pet so that we can thoroughly clean and treat the disease. This also allows for dental radiographs (X-rays) to be taken. Following treatment, your veterinarian will create a plan for maintaining proper oral care.
At East York Veterinary Center, we offer free tooth brushing demonstrations and can walk you through a step by step process for getting your pet comfortable with this daily care.
