Dental health important for pets

February is national Pet Dental Health Month. It’s a good time to think about your pet’s dental health.

By age 3, 80 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats have oral disease that is detectable during a routine physical exam. Loose, painful teeth, abscesses and sinus infections are the all too common results of ignoring our pets’ oral health. Year after year of low-grade infection in the mouth can also increase an animal’s risk of kidney, liver and heart disease.

Periodontal disease is the most common dental disease in pets. In the early stages, bacteria and saliva form plaque on the teeth, causing inflammation of the gums (gingivitis). Instead of uniformly pink gum tissue with a sharp edge where it meets the tooth, you will see a line of red, puffy gum tissue along the teeth. This plaque matrix can calcify, forming tartar or calculus. What looks like brown staining of the tooth near the gum line can become a rough, brown concretion over the entire tooth surface. As bacteria move up the tooth, under the gum, they cause more inflammation which destroys bone and other supporting structures of the tooth. As periodontal disease advances, the tooth becomes loose leading to abscesses or infection of the jaw bones.

It’s important to know that most dogs and cats won’t stop eating or during this process

Fractured teeth are also common, especially in large breed dogs who like to chew, and can also occur after trauma such as being hit by a car. Fractured teeth should be dealt with as soon as possible. Broken teeth are painful and not attending to them guarantees that sooner or later the tooth will abscess. If caught early, endodontic procedures can save many broken teeth, but they are usually extracted.

Cats

Periodontal disease and fractured teeth are also common problems for cats, but there are two other conditions that frequently occur. Feline “cavities” or “resorptive lesions” are areas where the protective outer covering of the tooth (the enamel) is being destroyed. They occur at the “neck” of the tooth where the root and crown meet. There may be little outward evidence of these lesions, but you can frequently see red gum tissue that appears to be growing over and into the tooth itself. It’s not clear what causes these lesions, but extraction is usually the best option.

Another problem that frequently strikes felines is “stomatitis,” or inflammation of the mouth which causes red, bleeding, painful gums and ulcerations of the mouth.

Cats with stomatitis should be tested for feline immunodeficiency virus because it is a known risk factor for stomatitis. For cats that do not respond to conservative treatment, complete extraction of all or nearly all of the teeth may be required. This usually resolves the problem.

Like us, pets can develop oral cancers. Have any lumps, ulcers or areas of discoloration seen in the mouth checked out by your vet right away. The earlier they are detected, the best chance for a cure.