Pets’ bad breath main indicator of dental problem

IF ONLY our pets could talk. As vets, we would have a much easier job of keeping them healthy if we only knew what was wrong with them.

At least with dental disease there are things we can look out for to tell us if there is a dental problem without having to be told (or barked or meowed at).

There are several clinical symptoms to look for which indicate dental disease. These are:

Bad breath. This is probably the number one reason pets are brought in for dental work. As you can imagine, our pets’ breath smells bad sooner with dental disease than in humans because they don’t brush their teeth.

Bad breath can result from just a mild build-up of tartar to bone infections caused by severe periodontal disease. The minute you smell bad breath, get your pet to the vet.

Staining or tartar. Tartar is the hard yellow/brown build-up seen on teeth. It is made up of food debris, saliva, bacteria and minerals, and forms a cement-like layer on the teeth. Tartar is impossible to brush off and can only be removed through a dental scale-and-polish procedure.

Broken or loose teeth. Broken teeth are very painful and prone to developing infections. Often these teeth need root canal therapy to save them or may even end up being extracted. Loose teeth cause discomfort during eating and often cannot be saved, only extracted.

Swelling on the face. This is often the result of broken or infected teeth forming abscesses. Extraction is often the only option.

Difficulty with chewing food or toys. Oral pain will often make an animal not want to eat well or play with toys as normal. Growths in the mouth. Any time you see a growth in the mouth it must be evaluated by a vet immediately. Tumours or cancers of the mouth are often very nasty and must be treated urgently.

One of the biggest challenges of veterinary dentistry is that a lot of pathology is not immediately visible to the naked eye. Often teeth can look normal even after a scale-and-polish procedure, but when radiographs are taken severe pathology becomes evident.

Another problem is that most pets do not like having us poke and prod in their mouths. This means that at any check-up a full oral exam often requires the pet to be under a general anaesthetic before we can assess the oral condition.

It is thought that younger animals have less dental disease but this may not be the case. They have certain conditions associated with younger mouths and these are often left without intervention such as not treating permanent deciduous teeth. Severe dental disease may then arise.

At Valley Farm Animal Hospital we like every animal to have a dental scale-and-polish procedure annually from the age of 1. This will prevent a lot of the dental disease we see.

Dental procedures can be costly and putting your pet on a medical aid is a good idea.

Many pet medical aids cover a dental procedure at least once a year as these companies understand that good pet dental care means less dental disease and less costs for them in a pet’s lifetime.

Dr Terri Shields and her pet.

Richard Kaplan, Nicholas Spagnoletti and Edward van Kuik.

Raquel Munn, Jurie Spencer and Elisobeth Peyroux.

Fiona Ramsay, Marcel Meyer and Michael Richard.