Advancements in the overall care of our companion animals have shed light on the importance of oral health. The same technology and techniques used in everyday human dental care are now employed at Gallatin Veterinary Hospital for our dogs and cats. With the help of our new digital dental radiology capabilities, we are able to detect and care for teeth which would have previously been thought to be healthy.

Our companion animals are living longer than ever before, thanks both to the increased care at home and the veterinary care available. As they age, tartar and plaque buildup on their teeth and the gingiva become inflamed and painful. As the infections progress, the adjacent bone also becomes infected. One of the most common manifestations of dental disease (and subsequent oral pain) is that the dog or cat begins to ‘slow down’, or ‘start acting old’. Another is that active dogs don’t perform as well anymore.

The veterinary community is recognizing the impact dental cleaning and oral care is having on these patients by how they act after the cleaning, or how well they ‘perform’ after an abscessed tooth is removed. We also know that even moderate amounts of plaque and gingivitis can have systemic health consequences. These affected teeth continuously expose the rest of the body to the bacteria and bacterial toxins that proliferate in cavities and diseased gums. Occasionally, the severity of other chronic conditions (liver disease, kidney disease, etc) becomes reduced after the dental intervention.

In general, the pain tolerance in dogs and cats appears to be much greater than that for us. Not that long ago, the conventional wisdom was that if their teeth hurt, they would stop eating, and therefore only when dogs and cats failed to eat their food would dental disease be considered. The great challenge with veterinary medicine is that our patients cannot vocalize their problems. It is left to us, as veterinarians, and you, the owner, to ask the right question (such as x-ray, bloodwork, ultrasound, etc) as to why they are not doing as well as they could be. Dogmatic assumptions that our dogs and cats are not bothered by tooth infections or advanced gingivitis are falling by the wayside as we see the results of proactive dental cleaning and intervention.

There are very important reasons to switch the conventional approach to veterinary dentistry. As mentioned, it was widely accepted that if a tooth was not ‘wiggly’ or movable, then it was healthy. Further, if the gums were not bleeding when they ate, then the gingivitis was not that severe. As the effects of these disease processes become more evident, we have the need to anticipate them and, even better, prevent them. It is also important to note that preventing the disease (ie, regular dental care and cleaning if necessary) is far more cost-effective that treating the disease (extracting teeth, more advance oral surgery, etc.).

Colin Bonnett, DVM