With February being National Pet Dental Health Month, you may have noticed more posts and information about dental disease in pets in your social media feed. I won’t go into much detail about dental disease in this post, but I will share a few good links to read about dental disease in your pets below.
Today, I wanted to share with you a case that we had recently that really showed why dental x-rays are essential to properly diagnose and treat dental disease in your pet. I had an appointment recently with a new client that had brought her 8 year old miniature poodle to see us. She had taken her to another veterinarian hospital less than 3 months before for a dental cleaning. She noticed that her pet’s breath had not improved and she still seemed to be in pain. She would drop food and she would keep her mouth open and hesitate to close it completely. On oral exam, the teeth looked clean, although there were one or two that were loose. I asked if the previous hospital had taken dental x-rays and she said she didn’t think so. I discussed the importance of dental x-rays during a dental cleaning and recommended another dental cleaning for the dog and she scheduled it for the next week. Check out the x-rays below to see what was discovered when we did the dental:
During the dental, we discovered and extracted six teeth that were diseased and were causing this poor dog pain. While the teeth may have looked clean from the outside, they were most definitely diseased. Remember– 70% of the tooth is underneath the gum line. The roots can only be evaluated with dental x-rays. I’ve posted before about the precautions we take before, during and after any surgical procedure here at NAAH. Specific to dental cleanings, we’ve been taking dental x-rays with every dental for 6 years. Dentistry is one thing of many here that we take very seriously. While February is a good time to highlight dental disease, it’s has year round importance at NAAH. In 2019 alone we performed over 300 dental procedures. We’ve learned from experience as well as continuing education, that by taking dental x-rays we can discover abnormal pathology and issues that you can’t see with the naked eye.
Thanks for taking the time to read our blog!
Adam Thompson, DVM
Below are some links to learn more about dental disease in your pets.
https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/pet-owners/petcare/pet-dental-care
https://www.avma.org/events/national-pet-dental-health-month
