As diligent as many dog owners are about everything from parasite prevention to wellness exams, one area that often is forgotten is the importance of dog dental care. Unfortunately, dental disease can lead to more than just a painful mouth, it can wreak havoc on the entire body. If you suspect your dog has dental issues, we've gathered some of the most frequently asked questions on dog dental care and shared those facts with you below.
How does dental health affect my dog's overall health?
Because dogs can't speak for themselves, we have to look at their teeth and decide if there are any problems because dental issues can cause pain in their mouths. Dogs are also very good at hiding dental pain, because most dogs are highly food driven. From a broad perspective, keeping their teeth clean can keep that bacteria from spreading into their bloodstream and impacting the heart valves, kidneys, liver, and immune system. This kind of preventive care for periodontal disease can extend the quality and duration of the dog's life.
How do I know if my dog is having dental problems?
There are a couple of things that you might see (or smell!); first and foremost will likely be bad breath and tartar accumulation on their teeth - yellow or brown build-up starting at the gumline. You might see them being more irritable. They could also have trouble chewing, food might fall out of their mouth, or they might eat more slowly or only out of one side of their mouth. Perhaps they're not playing with their favorite toys.
The earlier physical signs often include reddened gums or changes in tooth color, and, as the dental disease progresses, you could see a loose tooth or teeth that are black or brown. At your dog's annual check-up, your veterinarian will examine your dog's mouth carefully, looking for signs of dental disease, and make a tailored recommendation for both at home care, as well as how we time routine dental cleanings.
How can I care for my dog's teeth at home?
You can do many things to take care of your dog's teeth at home. The best thing is to brush your dog's teeth daily, as it is the most effective way to remove plaque. Plaque is the soft/sticky substance that hardens to tartar (dental calculus), which attaches to the teeth like concrete. Getting plaque off before it hardens is the best way to reduce build-up over time. Tooth brushing is a big commitment, and requires some training. It is best to start pets with this when they are young, but older dogs can be trained to tolerate tooth brushing, usually over a period of several weeks to months. Use a soft bristled toothbrush or a fingertip toothbrush and a dog safe toothpaste. The Veterinary Oral Health Council keeps a comprehensive list of approved products that are safe to use for pets. (VOHC.org)
If brushing doesn't work for you because of your dog's personality or your schedule, there are many other things we can consider, too—such as certain dental chews or treats. The Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC.org) has many treats that a veterinary dentist approves, such as Greenies and other brands. There are even water additives or wipes that you can use right on the dog's teeth.
What are some of the common dental diseases in dogs?
Dogs have many of the same dental diseases as people, with the addition of some that go hand in hand with things that dogs do, such as roughhousing and chewing.
Some of the most common dental diseases in dogs are:
- Gingivitis, or inflammation of the gums, which usually happens because of increased bacterial load in the mouth and the physical irritation of the tartar at the gumline.
- Periodontal disease, which occurs as inflammation worsens at the gumline, leading to loss of bone, recession of gums, pocketing, and even eventually tooth loss
- Fractured teeth due to dogs chewing on things that are too hard for their teeth
- Cysts or benign growths
- Traumatic injury in the mouth
Why is early detection and diagnosis of dental disease so important?
The biggest reason early detection and diagnosis of dental disease in dogs is so important is that the earlier we find something, the easier it is to fix it. When we find early dental disease, we can typically resolve it with a cleaning and create a plan at home to try to reverse some of the changes we have found. When we do that cleaning, we do a complete examination of the mouth and take dental x-rays to look for underlying problems. Most of the problems with tooth health are actually under the surface of the gums. Dental x-rays allow us to determine how much damage has happened underneath the gumline and ensure that all teeth have healthy roots, as well as allowing us to track progress over time. A mild case of gingivitis is usually relatively easy to fix. When dental disease goes unchecked for years, however, we often end up losing a substantial amount of bone, leading to the loss of the supportive structures for the teeth. This sometimes means that affected teeth require extraction—making it a much more involved procedure.
How often should my dog's teeth be checked?
Your veterinarian should check your dog's teeth a minimum of once a year or more in those breeds that are more prone to dental disease. Smaller breed dogs, particularly dogs with shorter faces like Boston Terriers, French Bulldogs, and Shih Tzu's are more quickly affected by bone loss, because they have smaller jaws and overall less bone to anchor the teeth than a Great Dane or German Shepherd. Some breeds like Dachshunds and Poodles (or Poodle mixes) also develop more severe dental disease due to their genetics. We should see those dogs at least twice a year, if not more frequently, to evaluate their teeth. And as dogs get older, we often want to see them more regularly for many reasons, and the teeth are at the top of that list. Many cardiac problems can be associated with poor dental health as well. Regular dental exams are the key to good overall health in your dog.
What does a professional dental cleaning look like for a dog?
In some ways, it's very similar to what you get at your twice-a-year cleaning at your doctor's office. The big difference is that we can't ask your dog to sit still and say, "Ah," or open their mouth for dental x-rays. And so, in every situation, a dog's teeth cleaning will involve anesthesia, for the best safety and most comprehensive dental evaluation. We also use anesthesia because we enlist an ultrasonic scaler that uses water to help clean the teeth, which aerosolizes bacteria. We want to have a breathing tube in place to protect their airway.
Whenever we do any dental procedure in dogs, we do full dental x-rays of all their teeth to evaluate everything under the gum line. You can't detect many problems just from looking at the teeth themselves. And so we must get the complete picture by taking x-rays, and they are included in any procedure that we do.
We probe around the teeth and look for pockets and broken teeth. After the x-rays, we scale them and clean them with the ultrasonic scaler. Many pet owners don't realize that we also polish the dog's teeth. We polish the teeth because when we do the scaling, we can cause minor grooves in the teeth, and then the polish keeps those from getting bacteria to stick to them.
In addition to this, we also do complete dental charting, which you've probably had at your doctor's office, although they may not have verbalized it to you. We take a small probe and test the health of the gums around the teeth and examine the entire mouth and all the structures in it to make sure everything looks healthy. You will go home with a dental chart and pictures of your dog's teeth before and after the cleaning, as well as a personalized care plan for your dog's dental health moving forward.
If you live in or near Colorado Springs, CO, and are looking for quality pet care, come visit us at North Powers Animal Hospital where your pet is our priority. Contact us at (719) 212-1857 to set an appointment, or email us at [email protected]. Our staff would love to talk with you!