Dog & Cat Dental Care – Essential Components to your Pet’s Health

Dental care is an essential component to your pet’s health because dental disease can lead to other serious health concerns like kidney and heart disease. Veterinarians today offer a full range of pet dental services to keep your pet’s mouth, gums and teeth healthy and strong.

Routine veterinarian dentistry examinations include cleaning and polishing to remove plaque that can cause gingivitis, tooth loss and receding gums. During the examination, veterinarians will check your pet’s mouth for signs of other dental diseases like swollen gums, proliferating gum disease, distemper, tumors, salivary cysts and periodontal disease.

Dental X-rays are a integral part of many veterinarian practices and help them to evaluate your pet’s oral health and diagnose a range of issues. More than half of a dog or cat’s teeth are hidden under the gums, but dental X-rays give veterinarians the ability to assess the whole mouth for problems.

Your pet’s X-rays may indicate a need for a tooth extraction. An extraction may be necessary if your pet has a root abscess or broken or exposed root canal, but again many veterinarian practices do offer pain management services to make every effort to make sure your pet remains as comfortable as possible before, during and after the procedure.

Your pet’s dental health is important, so be sure to discuss dental treatment options with your veterinarian.

 

About the Author

Dr. Holly Gill is an experienced veterinarian in Alexandria, Virginia. Connect with Dr. Gill on Google+.