Dental Care and Cleaning
DENTAL
Advanced Dental Care for a Healthier, Happier Cat
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01. Did you know…
Similar to humans, dental hygiene is a crucial aspect of your cat’s overall health. Regular dental cleanings can help maintain your cat’s well-being for longer. Although it’s easy to ignore dental care for pets, oral health is as important as any other aspect of their physical health. Neglecting oral hygiene can result in dental disease-causing issues such as difficulty eating, bad breath, poor grooming, and tooth loss. Dental disease can also impact other bodily systems, not only affecting their oral health, but your cat’s overall health.
02. Did you know…
It is just as important to brush your cat’s teeth as it is to brush your own? Brushing your cat’s teeth is a great way to prevent excess plaque buildup and dental disease. It’s a good idea to brush a cat’s teeth a few times a week if possible; however, we understand that for some this is not an easy task. If this is the case for you, adding prescription dental food and dental treats can be another way to help prevent plaque buildup.
It’s important to remember that even with regular brushing, cats still require a dental cleaning from time to time. Just like our mouths, brushing can help to slow down plaque buildup, but it will not prevent it entirely. This is why we recommend having a veterinarian check your cat’s mouth at least once a year to make sure that it is still healthy.
Dental Surgery and What to Expect
Even with the best preventative treatment, the buildup of plaque can never be entirely halted, and as such, most cats will require a dental cleaning at some point in their lives. During our dental procedures your cat is fully anesthetized. Bloodwork is REQUIRED prior to anesthesia. Once anesthetized, we do a full mouth cleaning and take full mouth radiographs. During the cleaning process one of our highly trained staff members uses a high-power ultrasonic cleaner, like those used in a dental office, to clean off all that plaque and tartar buildup that has formed on the teeth before the doctor takes a closer look.
Once all the plaque has been removed, the doctor is able to do a thorough examination of the teeth. During this process the doctor determines if there are any teeth that need to be removed, or any other issues that need to be addressed. Tooth loss is not an uncommon occurrence, and cats often do very well once any suspect teeth have been removed. Ignoring these teeth can lead to more issues over time. The safety and health of a cat under anesthesia is always our number one priority which is why we have one of our highly trained staff members continually monitoring your cat while under anesthesia. Once all extractions have been performed, our highly trained staff member once again comes in to polish any remaining teeth before waking the patient.
After-care for our dental procedures varies depending on the extent of extractions. On a routine cleaning with no extractions, there should not be much change in medication or behavior once the cat goes home. In cases where the extractions may be more substantial, we give anti-inflammatory and pain management medications, both injected and sent home with the patient. These patients should also be kept on a soft food diet until their mouths have some time to heal. Most cats do very well after dental procedures, and don’t have many issues after going home. After a few weeks, we will have a follow-up exam to make sure everything is healing properly.
Why are dental x-rays so important?
Though yearly checks can help us determine the state of a cat’s mouth, it is impossible to know the full extent of any kind of dental disease without a sedated exam and dental radiographs. Periodontal disease, the most common dental disease in cats right now, is impossible to fully diagnose without taking x-rays of a cat’s mouth. Our high-powered dental radiograph machine lets us get a full picture of what your cat’s mouth looks like and lets us determine what is the best course of action going forward.
Dental Care in Elderly Cats
As Cats age, the likelihood of developing dental issues increases. This can cause them discomfort, or in some cases, seriously threaten their health. It’s important to keep a close eye on your pets’ teeth as they age and know the signs of a problem if they start to occur.
Some signs that your cats teeth may be causing them issues are:
- halitosis (bad breath)
- excessive drooling
- teeth chattering
- pawing at the mouth
- teeth grinding
- loss of appetite
It is also a good idea to check in your cat’s mouth regularly for growths, reddening of the gums, excessive plaque buildup, or lesions.
It is very common at this stage in a cat’s life for them to need a full dental cleaning even if you have brushed their teeth regularly their entire lives. Dental cleanings are done under full anesthesia so that we can thoroughly clean and check the mouth.
Tooth loss is very common in older cats. As they age, their teeth tend to break down, just like ours can as we grow older. Unlike humans, we do not make dentures for cats; however, many cats do just fine without them. Once the bad teeth are removed, and any remaining teeth are cleaned, the cat will feel more comfortable overall. Some owners opt to switch to a wet food only diet at this point in their cat’s life, which is a great option if it works for you; however, that is not always necessary. Every cat is different, and some cats will always prefer hard food over wet. Even with no teeth left, many cats can eat hard food just fine.