The Consequences of Bad Breath in Your Pet

In daily practice, one of the most common problems I see when I examine a pet is dental disease. You may wonder what dental disease looks like and how you can identify the signs at home. It can present differently depending on the pet. In more mild cases, a dog or cat may not show any signs at all. However, when we lift their lip and look at their teeth, we see brown or yellow tarter accumulating on their teeth and also red gums. When we see this, we know that there is already infection under the gum line. It is during these very early stages that we want to take action and provide a Comprehensive Oral Health Assessment and Treatment, otherwise known in the veterinary community as COHAT. This process includes a physical & oral exam, removal of dental calculus above and below the gum line via scaling followed by polishing, complete charting, radiographs, development of a treatment plan, and then creation of a home care plan. Watch the video below for a demonstration of how a COHAT is performed at our clinic. Sometimes if the patient is young or has received ongoing oral health care in the past, this process can be pretty painless and straightforward for your pet. However, more often than not, we don’t get to address dental disease until it is at it’s worst. When it is at it's worst, we may see the buildup of calculus that is so severe that it is literally holding loose teeth in the mouth. Sometimes, the patient presents because of sneezing and once we have them anesthetized for their dental, we will discover an oral nasal fistula associated with the large upper canine teeth. The infection has created an abnormal passageway between the oral and nasal cavity. After extracting these teeth, we will also remove a buildup of hair and debris that has been causing them to sneeze due to irritation in their nose. The thing is, your pet may not alert you that there is any problem at all. Many pets will continue to eat despite the presence of severe dental disease. They have an instinctual behavior not to show signs of pain. However, we know that dental disease is frequently very painful. The signs of pain can be very gradual and sometimes their change in behavior is often associated with just getting older. Some pets may have bad breath, may be less active, hide more, or stop grooming themselves. Once we treat the dental problem, we will often see a rapid improvement in their demeanor. The treatment and prevention of dental disease not only keeps your pet pain free, but it also reduces their risk of heart, kidney and liver disease. It is not abnormal for me to diagnose severe dental disease and a heart murmur in a pet at the same appointment. We want to help keep your pets healthy and see them live a longer life. We can do this by examining them on an annual basis and twice yearly for senior pets so we can quickly address any concerns. We will also teach you about your home care options so that you can help slow the progression of disease and increase the interval between dental cleanings. The more you can do at home, the less we will have to do at the clinic.

~Dr. Shawn