DENTAL CARE FOR ADULT DOGS

One of the first indicators that your dog’s teeth need attention is that his breath smells bad. As his dental disease progresses, he may drool and paw his mouth, and he may have trouble eating.

There are a number of things you can do to keep your dog’s teeth and gums in good condition. Bearing in mind your pet uses all his teeth for different purposes, sometimes using a combination of things works best.

 

What you can use to keep your pets teeth clean

Water Additives

There are various additives you can add to your pet’s drinking water that can reduce tartar formation. They do work best as a preventative, so should ideally be introduced when your dog is young or just after a dental clean.

Bones and Chews

Chewing can really help to keep your pet’s teeth healthy, particularly those premolars. There is certainly much debate on the safety of bones in dogs. Ideally giving your dog a raw meaty bone, can help to mechanically brush the teeth, picture those meat fibres almost flossing your pet’s teeth as he chews. Unfortunately chewing large bones can also fracture teeth, so you need to decide what is right for your dog and supervise those serious chewers. Your dog should ideally be chewing the meat off a large bone, rather than cracking the bone with his teeth. Using a chew that has the VOHC seal of approval is ideal, such as Greenies, you can also give chews such as rawhides or pig’s ears. Whatever your pet chews, they need to be able to sink their teeth right up to the gum line, so usually things like Kongs and Nylabones are not a good way to prevent periodontal disease (even though they are good for other reasons!).

Dental Diets

There are a number of diets now available to help prevent tartar formation. They help by mechanically brushing the teeth, as they are formed with larger pieces. They also have ingredients that help prevent gingivitis and the build-up of plaque. They are best fed as sole-diets, but there is still some benefit in mixing them in with your pet’s regular food.

Veterinary Care

If your dog is accustomed to having his mouth examined, your vet can examine his teeth every 6 months during a physical exam. It may not be possible to probe around the teeth with a dental probe to check for pockets between the tooth and gum, but your vet can assess for tartar accumulation, gingivitis and tooth fractures.

What does a dental involve?

For us a trip to the dentist is not such a big deal. Unfortunately pets are designed a little differently than us, their mouths do not open as wide and even the most well behaved dog will not allow a full dental exam and clean. It is impossible to properly clean your pet’s teeth without having them under anaesthesia and safely intubated to protect their lungs from inhaling stray bits of tartar and bacteria during the clean.

When your vet cleans your pet’s teeth, the steps involved are:

• Your pet is anaesthetised and an endotracheal tube is placed to ensure no plaque, bacteria or fluid gets into your dog’s lungs
• Each tooth is checked with specialised probe to ensure there are no deep pockets between the gum and tooth.
• The teeth are scaled with an ultrasonic scaler, like what your dentist uses.
• Loose, fractured or teeth with severe periodontal disease are removed using local anaesthesia and nerve blocks, sectioning and elevation, the socket is flushed and cleaned, then sutured closed.
• All teeth are polished to ensure the surface is smooth and less likely to attract plaque.
• A fluoride treatment is applied to all the teeth.
• Your pet is recovered from anaesthesia safely with continual nurse observation.

What happens if my pet has missing teeth?

For most dogs, they are significantly more comfortable after having diseased and damaged teeth removed. Even if all their teeth are gone, they will have no trouble eating, they may just need to lay off the bones. Lets face it, many pets do very little chewing anyway, dogs have evolved to get that food down fast, with just the bare minimum of mastication. If your pet has had some of those larger back teeth, you may need to check with your vet how to care for the opposing tooth. For example if your pet has had a large upper premolar removed, the molars along the lower arcade may be at risk of disease, as your pet will tend to chew on the other side of the mouth preferentially. You may be best using a water additive and brushing to help keep that remaining tooth clean.