What is dental disease?
Dental disease is inflammation and infection of the teeth, gums and jaw due to plaque build up on the teeth. Plaque is a combination of bacteria, pus and calcification. Severe dental disease leads to bone loss in the jaw and can be extremely painful. Some animals/species are more prone to dental disease than others.
What are the signs of dental disease?
Signs of dental disease include:
- Bad breath
- Plaque on the teeth
- Bleeding or reddened gums
- Difficulty chewing
- Sneezing/ nasal discharge
How can I prevent dental disease?
The best way to prevent dental disease is to stop plaque building up on the teeth. Brushing your pets’ teeth is the best way to do this however there are other options to help prevent dental disease such as:
- A good quality dental diet forces your pet to chew their food and the fiber matrix within the biscuit brushes your pets teeth as they eat. We recommend Hills T/d
- Dental chews e.g. Oravet and Greenies
- Ascophylium Nodosum (Plaque Off) in food to prevent hardening of plaque before brushing.
- Raw carrots
How can I treat dental disease?
Once dental disease has progressed to the point where there is a lot of plaque on the teeth a dental scale and polish is the only way to treat the condition. During this procedure each tooth is assessed individually and extracted if necessary and all surfaces of the teeth are cleaned and polished. To achieve this, a general anaesthetic is required.
Why does my pet need dental extractions?
Teeth may require extraction for a variety of reasons including:
- Teeth that are severely diseased are painful and susceptible to further infection.
- Baby teeth that should have been lost but are present along with adult teeth.
- Fractured teeth that are painful and provide a route for infection.
- Teeth that are in an abnormal position and crowd other teeth or dig in to the animal’s mouth.