Posts in Category: Pet Dental Care
Beyond the Basics: Diving Deep Into Dental Cleaning
Many of us know regular dental cleanings are beneficial to our pets. With over 85% of pets over the age of 3 affected by some form of dental disease, people are becoming more aware of this common but preventable problem. If your pet gets regular dental cleanings, you’ve probably noticed cleaner teeth, fresher breath, and decreased redness around your pet’s gum line. While the results of dental cleanings are great, have you ever wondered what happens during a cleaning? We thought you might!
Continue…Anesthesia Free Dental Cleanings for Pets: Too Good to Be True?
Pet owners are more savvy than ever, and they are more and more proactive about seeking out the best for their beloved four-legged family members. Knowing the importance of good dental health care, they are seeking out different options for routine teeth cleaning for their pets.
More and more in New Jersey you will find practitioners that are willing to clean your pet’s teeth without anesthesia. When you take into account the risk of anesthesia for pets and its associated costs, this may seem like an obvious choice to make. Oakhurst Veterinary Hospital wants our educated pet owners to understand, though, why anesthesia free dental cleanings for pets are not all they’re cracked up to be.
Continue…Step by Step: The Pet Dental Exam Decoded
Despite the fact that most of us tend to our oral hygiene daily and see our dentist for cleanings and exams, not much thought is given to dental care for our pets. The idea of brushing a dog or cat’s teeth may seem daunting to many of us, but neglecting our pets’ oral health can lead to serious consequences down the line.
Professional dental care is an essential step in your furry loved one’s wellness plan. Your team at Oakhurst Veterinary Hospital wants to make sure you know what is involved in a pet dental exam and why it is so important for your pet’s health.
From Nose to Tail: The Comprehensive Veterinary Exam
Aside from the special opportunity to meet or get to know your pet a little better, our comprehensive veterinary exams promote overall health and well-being. Scheduled every 6–12 months, this appointment focuses on preventive practices. Sometimes, this routine visit leads us to pursue more knowledge about a pet’s overall well-being. Diagnostics or procedures can follow the wellness exam, all in an effort to detect and treat health conditions long before they cause lasting problems.
Continue…Canine Oral Papillomas Demystified
You have a young, happy, healthy pup, or so you think… all of the sudden, though, your vaccinated dog has these little ugly growths on their lips. Before you panic and assume the worst, let Oakhurst Veterinary Hospital quell your fears. Many oral growths in young dogs are actually canine oral papillomas, and they are typically nothing to be worried about.
You Got the Look
Canine oral papillomas have a pretty distinct appearance. They tend to be small, round skin tumors that resemble warts. They usually have what’s called a fimbriated surface, with little fronds growing off of them similar to a sea anemone. They are often gray to flesh colored.
Continue…Pet Dental Care Facts & Fallacies
Dental Care is one of the most fundamental elements of maintaining your pet’s health. Because of misinformation or a lack of understanding about the facts, many owners are still unaware of the importance of pet dental care, but the team at Oakhurst Veterinary Hospital wants to change that.
Dental disease is the most common, most preventable, and most treatable problem for dogs and cats. The best approach to optimal oral health is a combination of at-home dental care for dogs and cats combined with professional cleanings. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of misinformation about the best dental care. Here are some of the most common fallacies and facts about pet dental care:
Continue…More Than a Mouthful: Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions
Cats are so amazing and capable of hiding when they are having trouble that they often get the short end of the stick when it comes to proactive care. One area that many of our feline patients need our help in is the department of dental care.
The staff at Oakhurst Veterinary Hospital sees quite a bit of dental disease in all of our four-legged patients. In cats, not only is periodontal disease a big issue, but there is also another beast to contend with. Feline odontoclastic resorptive lesions, not so fondly also referred to as FORLs, affect a large number of our cat patients and are something all cat owners should understand.
Understanding Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions
The term feline odontoclastic resorptive lesions is quite the mouthful, and they can be for our cat patients as well. We don’t really understand at this time what causes some cats to be affected by this disease process, but over half of our cat patients over the age of six have them.
FORLs are essentially holes that form in the tooth as a result of the activity of the odontoblasts within the tooth itself. These holes typically form near the gum line and are analogous to the cavities that people suffer, however they have nothing to do with plaque buildup.
We do know that FORLs affect cats tremendously. These sinister little holes can be exquisitely painful. Exposure of the tooth’s pulp cavity can also result in infection. If the hole becomes extensive enough, the crown of the tooth can even break off, leaving roots under the gum line that may result in problems.
Not all cats let us know that they are suffering from FORLs. It is a good idea to make an appointment for us to examine your pet, though, if you notice that your cat is:
- Drooling
- Pawing at the mouth
- Reluctant to allow you to look at the teeth
- Bleeding from the mouth
- Hesitant to eat
- Having bad breath
Fighting the Good Fight
Feline odontoclastic resorptive lesions can be frustrating for cat owners as well as veterinarians because we don’t really understand at this time how to prevent or stop them. What we can, do, however, is be proactive about looking for them and aggressive when we find them.
Routine oral examinations are an important part of wellness care for any pet, but especially cats. Frequent anesthetized oral evaluations and dental radiographs are important for us to find these painful lesions early. Many times in the early stages it is impossible to identify these without dental x-ray.
Diagnosis And Treatment
When we find FORLs, the exact type of lesion is identified in order to decide how to best proceed. Class I and II FORLs tend to be early in the course of the disease and may be treated with cleaning and/or enamel restoration techniques.
Class III lesions enter the pulp cavity, while Class IV lesions involve broken roots retained under the gum line. These types of FORLs typically require tooth extraction as they are quite painful. Many cats who suffer from FORL lesions will have all or most of the teeth affected at some point. Although most of these pets lose lots of teeth, they are perfectly functional (and much more comfortable) without them.
Working Together
Until science and veterinary medicine understand more about this disease process, it remains important for us to work as a team to be sure that our cats are happy and pain free. By bringing your pet in to see us for wellness visits and allowing routine oral examinations as recommended, you can do your part in battling FORLs.
Getting to the Root of Periodontal Disease in Pets
Bad breath is so common in pets that most of us accept it as a normal part of life. In reality, halitosis in pets is not normal and that doggy or kitty breath you’ve come to expect may be signaling the onset of periodontal disease.
Periodontal disease in pets is a serious issue that affects up to 85% of all dogs and cats by the time they reach 3 years of age. Fortunately, it’s never too late to take charge of your pet’s dental health! Your team at Oakhurst Veterinary Hospital is here for you every step of the way.
Chew on This: Not-so-Frequently Asked (but Important) Pet Dental Questions
The mighty mouth is something we take for granted with our pets. It does its purpose, after all. But did you know there are many aspects of overall health that are directly related to good dental health? That’s right! From heart health to preventing kidney disease, the mouth plays a key role in your pet’s wellness and longevity, not to mention quality of life.
Most pet owners, however, don’t often ask questions about pet dental health, which can sometimes be a disservice to their furry loved one. In an attempt to shine a light on dental care, Oakhurst Veterinary Hospital offers a few pet dental questions every responsible pet owner should ask.
Dental Anesthesia for Pets: A Key Part of the Process
While you may be accustomed to heading into your dentist’s office and saying “Ahhhh” for the procedure, in the veterinary world dental anesthesia for pets is the standard of care. Learn why your trusted team at Oakhurst Veterinary Hospital thinks dental anesthesia for pets is essential and what we are doing to make it safer than ever.