Harbor Animal Hospital is now permanently closed. For continued care, we recommend Gray Animal Hospital.
Protecting Your Pet’s Teeth, Gums, and Overall Health
It’s critical that your pet’s oral health isn’t neglected. Pets are extremely susceptible to gum disease and other problems with their mouth, teeth, and gums, so regular examinations and cleanings are essential.
Dental Disease
Pets need their teeth cleaned regularly to combat infection-causing oral bacteria. Just like humans! The difference is that our pets depend on us to help make that happen. That’s why dental health should be a year round staple of your pet’s wellness care.
Bad breath in pets is oftentimes overlooked, but it’s the first sign of an unhealthy mouth. Dog breath is caused by oral bacteria, which initially infects just the teeth and gums. Over time, oral bacteria can enter the bloodstream and lead to severe health consequences like organ damage.
Dental Examination
A visual dental exam is part of every wellness exam performed at Harbor Animal Hospital. Our doctors are highly skilled at spotting signs of dental disease in your pet. Bad breath is hard to miss, but we’ll look for other indicators, too, such as:
- Reddened gums
- Discolored teeth
- Excessive drooling
- Difficulty chewing
- Loose or missing teeth
Dental Cleaning
Professional dental cleanings are generally recommended once a year. Your pet’s oral cavity will be deep cleaned, above and below the gum line. The first step is to clean below the gum line, which is where oral bacteria begins and lives in the gum tissue. Next, scaling and polishing is performed to completely remove plaque and tartar above the gum line.
Vitals and pain levels will be rigorously monitored from start to finish with ECG technology that records heart rhythms. After your pet’s dental procedure, we’ll take another set of digital dental x-rays to ensure procedural success.
Anesthesia is required for the safety and comfort of your pet during every dental cleaning. To ensure the safety of anesthesia, we always perform a comprehensive blood panel beforehand, which can catch underlying conditions or irregularities that might interfere with its safety or efficacy.
Potential Extractions
Fractured, abscessed, and rotting teeth are tremendously painful and cause teeth to become non-functional, with no chance of ever being functional again. In severe cases like this, simply removing plaque and tartar build-up is not enough to completely relieve your pet of dental pain or eliminate the oral bacteria that puts their overall health at risk. Extracting teeth is the only effective way when damage is this advanced.
At-Home Dental Care
Your pet will return home the same day with a healthy oral cavity and pearly white teeth! Keeping up with at-home care between visits reduces the number of professional dental cleanings your pet will need during his or her life. We’ll show you how to brush your pet’s teeth at home and, if you have a fussy pet, we’ll recommend alternatives like dental diets, treats, and chews.
