Your pet may have been recommended to have professional dental care.  Pets need dental care just like people do.  Until recently dental hygiene wasn't a significant part of pet healthcare because pets often didn't live long enough for their teeth to become a problem, and often didn't live in close enough association with humans for problems to be noted (i.e. pain and mouth odor).  With dogs and cats now often living for 15-20 years, and living more closely with our families, dental and gum disease have become health concerns.  Prevention and early treatment of plaque, tarter, and gum disease is the key to maintaining healthy teeth and gums, preventing mouth odor, inflammation, pain, infection, and tooth loss.

HOME CARE:
To prevent gum disease and increase time between professional cleanings you can:

• Provide safe chew toys for your pet.
• Brush regularly to prevent plaque form hardening into tartar.

PROFESSIONAL CARE:

An important part of your pet's yearly check-up is a careful exam of his teeth and gums.
Professional cleaning may be required.  This includes:

• Anesthesia.  Your pet's dental can only be performed safely and painlessly if your pet is anesthetized.
• Extensive examination of teeth, gums, and exposed roots for possible extraction's, abcesses, or other problems.
• Ultrasonic scaling to remove tartar from exposed tooth surfaces.
• Hand scaling to clean under gums, an important step in your pet's dental cleaning.
• Polishing of teeth to restore their natural smoothness and to prevent plaque from clinging to their surface.
• Appropriate treatment of any tooth or gum disease or abnormalities.

This procedure is performed in our office by your veterinarian and certified veterinary technician team.  Please arrange for an appointment with our receptionist.  We ask that food be withheld after 6:00 PM the night before treatment (water is ok).    In almost all cases your pet can come home the same afternoon.  Antibiotics may be prescribed after treatment if indicated.