Advanced Dentistry in Dartmouth: Services for Cats and Dogs
While most pet owners understand the responsibilities that come with having a cat or dog, such as proper nutrition, vaccinations, preventive treatments, and annual check-ups, many are not aware of the importance of dental care services. Your local Dartmouth vet hospital at Anchor Animal Hospital offers a wide range of canine dental care and feline dental services designed to keep your pet’s teeth, gums, and mouth healthy. We even offer advanced dentistry in Dartmouth for pets with complicated dental issues that might require surgical services and other solutions. While we check your pet’s mouth, teeth, and gums during the annual check-up, it is beneficial to get a more comprehensive dental exam and cleaning at least once each year.
Why Feline and Canine Dental Care Matters
Veterinary studies reveal that dental or periodontal disease is one of the most common diseases that affect companion animals in the United States. Approximately 70-80 percent of cats and dogs have some degree of dental disease by the time they are just three years of age. Dental disease is the leading cause of bad breath, which can be annoying to many pet owners, but it is also a symptom of more significant problems that might be hiding under the surface. Bad breath might just be the beginning: a painful mouth, difficulty eating, lethargy, and complications with heart and kidney disease are some of the other common symptoms of more serious dental and periodontal disease.
Brushing your pet’s teeth from the time they are a small kitten or pup can be very helpful and will even slow down dangerous plaque development. However, a large majority of pets just do not like having their teeth brushed, which means routine dental cleaning at our Dartmouth vet hospital is even more essential to maintain healthy teeth and gums. We offer a wide range of services for canine dental care and feline dental services, including advanced dentistry in Dartmouth. We serve patients all throughout the Southcoast region, including Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Routine dental cleaning includes a thorough evaluation, cleaning, polishing, and fluoride treatment. Because all of this work needs to be done, the pet is put under anesthesia for their safety and the technician’s protection.
Pre-Anesthetic Blood Screening
At Anchor Animal Hospital, we take surgical and dental procedures very seriously. When a pet must undergo anesthesia, we highly recommend a pre-anesthetic blood screening, which helps us to be aware of potential problems so we can plan accordingly. Your pet will be continuously monitored on a cutting edge multi-parameter machine, which tracks heart and respiratory rates, end-tidal CO2, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, and temperature. Pets are also closely watched by the doctor and one of our highly trained staff members. The pre-anesthetic blood screening allows us to create a custom solution for the anesthetic to ensure that your pet receives adequate pain relief and the smoothest recovery possible.
To maximize the benefits of each dental cleaning, every tooth is individually probed and charted for potential problems, including tartar, gingivitis, mobility, and other pathology. We recommend full mouth digital radiographs to determine the sub-gingival health of the teeth, as more than 70 percent of each tooth exists below the gum line, which can hide many issues. While the tooth might look healthy on the surface, the root could be diseased and unhealthy, requiring it to be extracted. On the other hand, teeth may appear diseased on the surface, but the root could be completely healthy. Laser therapy can also be used to help your pet have a healthy mouth. If you have questions about any of these procedures, treatments, therapy programs, or solutions, contact our team directly.
Experienced Veterinary Dentistry
The veterinarians at Anchor Animal Hospital have many years of experience working with dental and oral surgery. They have received additional training for advanced dentistry in Dartmouth at the Animal Dental Training Center. We are equipped with a state-of-the-art digital dental X-ray unit and all of the advanced equipment necessary to provide your pet with the best canine dental care and feline dental services available. To learn more about our services or to schedule an appointment for your pet, give us a call at 508-996-3731. We are located on State Road in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and serve a wide variety of other domesticated animals and pocket pets in addition to cats and dogs at our facility.