Pet Dentistry

Pet Dentistry

Dental or periodontal disease is one of the most common diseases affecting our companion animals. It can cause signs ranging from bad breath to infection, inflammation, difficulty eating and severe pain. At Community Animal Hospital, we believe that top-notch dental care is an important part of your pet’s long-term health.

During a dental cleaning, your pet will be placed under anesthesia. To ensure the safety of your pet, an IV catheter will be placed and IV fluids administered. This enables us to maintain your pet’s blood pressure and supplies immediate emergency access in the rare event it is needed. We encourage (and if your pet is 7 or older require) pre-anesthetic blood screening. This allows us to be aware of potential problems and plan accordingly. An individual anesthetic protocol is tailored for your pet by our doctor; this enables us to provide adequate pain relief and the smoothest recovery possible. While your pet is under anesthesia, he/she will be continuously monitored on a cutting-edge multi-parameter machine. This tracks heart and respiratory rates, end-tidal CO2, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, and temperature. They are also closely watched by the doctor and one of our highly trained staff members.

Each of your pet’s teeth is individually probed and charted for problems like gingivitis, calculus/tartar, mobility, and other pathology. We strongly recommend full mouth digital radiographs on every dental procedure to determine the sub-gingival health of the teeth. Since 70% of each tooth exists below the gumline, this allows the doctors to formulate a treatment plan for a diseased tooth. This plan might include sub-gingival planing, instillation of an antibiotic-impregnated gel, or extraction. Some teeth that look perfectly healthy on the surface, are hiding problems at the root and need to be extracted, while vice-versa a tooth that looks unhealthy or diseased on top, might still have a solid root base – and can therefore be saved.

We now offer the benefits of a Therapy Laser to help your pet’s mouth be the healthiest it can be. One of our trained staff members can perform a treatment after your pet’s dental procedure. Therapy Lasers help to reduce inflammation caused by gingivitis, and can help reduce pain after extractions and speed the healing process. Used as a monthly maintenance treatment, it can slow or even reverse painful gingivitis, and help to slow the formation of calculus/tartar.

After your pet’s dental cleaning, your pet is eligible for a free toothbrushing by one of our highly trained technicians once a month for a year. This is to help you maintain your pet’s teeth in between cleanings.

Home dental care between cleanings may include daily brushing with pet toothpaste, dental rinses (CET rinse, Aquadent), tartar control diet (Hill’s T/D Prescription Diet, or Healthy Advantage), and CET dental chews. The doctor and staff at Community Animal Hospital will work with you and your pet to find a dental home care plan that fits your lifestyle.