Dental Care for Dogs & Cats

Dental health is an important aspect to living a long, healthy, and pain free life. At Greenfield Animal Hospital we are passionate about educating our clients and providing the resources needed to achieve and maintain good oral health for your pet.  Like human dental care, healthy gums and teeth are important and worth focusing on. Dental disease for a dog or cat can lead to chronic pain, blood-borne infections, or long-term damage to the heart, lungs, kidneys, or liver.

For many pets, bad breath is also a problem; but it’s more than just an annoyance. Often that foul smell is a warning that there’s a problem developing. 

Your pet’s teeth are just like yours, they require regular cleaning to keep the teeth, bone and gums healthy. We believe that the same standard of care for human teeth and gums is as important for dogs and cats to avoid progressive dental disease. Early intervention avoids numerous complications as your pet ages and we are enthusiastic about educating clients on dental home care such as how to train your pet to accept routine brushing of the teeth, how to avoid fractured teeth, and what types of chews/treats may help (please refer to the dental home care handout). If your pet already suffers from dental problems, have no fear, all of our clinicians are highly trained in dentistry and will recommend dental cleaning and examination under anesthesia.

Most of us hate the frequent trip to the dentist, but we put up with the hygienist scraping tartar and plaque from our teeth and under our gums. Unfortunately, dogs and cats won’t put up with a veterinarian cleaning their teeth without general anesthesia. Even when awake scaling is successful, it’s extremely rare to get the tartar that lies below the gum surface or the surfaces between the teeth, and that’s where most of the gum recession and bone loss occurs. Further, without anesthesia, it is not possible to radiograph the teeth and you will miss serious and painful problems such as infected tooth roots, tooth resorption (especially a painful problem in cats) or dentigerous cysts. 

Call our office to schedule a dental evaluation to focus on your pets oral health and we will make a recommendation for your pet.

Signs of dental problems: 

  • Bad breath: foul odor from the mouth supports either dental or digestive problems and warrants examination
  • Bleeding or significant redness along the gumline
  • Ulcers of the cheek or gums
  • Excessive drooling or pawing at the mouth
  • Difficulty chewing food or unwillingness to eat. 

Dental Prophylaxis and Procedures - what's included:

  • If required, we will recommend your pet have a dental cleaning under general anesthesia. 
  • On the day of the procedure, or within the past 3 months, we run basic blood work and do an examination to be sure they are healthy enough to tolerate anesthesia. 
  • The doctor and the dedicated technician formulate an anesthetic plan based on your pets specific health and an IV catheter is placed. All anesthesia patients are given IV fluids throughout the procedure to ensure they stay hydrated and maintain normal blood pressure. They are also given pain medications and local nerve blocks if necessary to provide comprehensive pain control.
  • Heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, blood pressure, EKG, pulse oximetry and capnography (CO2 levels) are closely monitored while your pet is under anesthesia. 
  • Every dental cleaning includes a thorough ultrasonic scaling and hand polishing of all teeth above and below the gumline by our highly trained dental technicians, as well as, a full oral examination and charting by the veterinarian. 
  • Digital dental radiography is highly recommended and necessary to ensure your pets teeth are healthy. Through radiographs we are able to identify problems that are not obvious on exam alone. Common radiographic findings include: unerupted teeth, periodontal bone loss, infected roots, tooth resorption, fractured teeth, dental anomalies, cysts, and more.  We have state of the art dental radiography capabilities and will identify and help to correct any dental problems right away. 
  • If dental problems are found we will discuss them with you and offer ways to correct them during the same anesthetic event to reduce pain and infection immediately while avoiding repeat visits. Our clinicians are highly skilled in providing surgical dental extraction and other dental procedures such as growth removals, but will also offer referral to a board certified veterinary dentist if needed to preserve your pets oral health. Additionally, if dental extraction is needed, we will apply nerve blocks to prevent any discomfort during and after the tooth removal procedure.