Canine Dental Care in Dartmouth: Advanced Dentistry Solutions
Dogs are not known for having the best smelling breath. They eat a meat-based diet, most refuse to have their teeth brushed, they drink out of toilets, and they lick – well, just about everything. One of the most popular playground insults of all time was to call someone “dog breath.” That being said, dental care for pets is an essential service to help prevent a lot of major illnesses and diseases so your dog or cat can live a long and healthy life. Advanced dentistry in Dartmouth is also available for both feline and canine dental care at Anchor Animal Hospital. It is a good idea to choose a veterinarian in the South Coast area that offers all of the services that your pet will need throughout his or her lifetime.
What to Expect: Canine Dental Care
Routine cleaning for your pet requires the use of anesthesia. This allows our veterinary team to provide a proper evaluation, cleaning, polishing, and fluoride treatment. It also makes the entire procedure much less stressful for your pet. While your dog is under anesthesia, they will be constantly monitored by our staff through the use of a cutting-edge multi-parameter machine that tracks heart and respiratory rates, oxygen saturation, end-tidal CO2 levels, blood pressure, and temperature. In addition, our veterinary doctors and highly trained staff members monitor your pet throughout the entire procedure.
For pets that are over seven years of age, we require a pre-anesthetic blood screening. This additional procedure allows us to be aware of any potential problems that your pet might have with anesthesia so we can plan accordingly. We establish a unique anesthetic protocol for each pet that is custom designed by the veterinary doctor to help us ensure adequate pain relief and smooth recovery after the procedure.
The cleaning begins much like a human dental visit, with each tooth being individually probed and charted for things like tartar, gingivitis, mobility, and other essential pathology. For best results, we strongly recommend performing a full-mouth digital radiograph on every dental visit to determine the sub-gingival health of the teeth below the gum line. This can help our team spot potential issues that might not be visible during the exam that are hiding below the surface, such as diseased teeth that might need to be extracted for the benefit of your pet’s overall health. Ongoing maintenance treatments to reverse painful gingivitis are also available, including therapy lasers.
Advanced Dentistry in Dartmouth
Our dental team goes above and beyond to provide your pet with the dental services that they need to have a strong and healthy mouth. Veterinary studies reveal that approximately 70-80 percent of all cats and dogs have some degree of dental or periodontal disease by the time that they are three years of age. Dental disease doesn’t just cause “dog breath,” but can also mean a painful mouth, cause difficulty eating, and can complicate other issues, including kidney and heart disease. We do recommend at-home brushing to slow down the development of plaque. Our team can show you how to do this effectively. If your pet does not allow at-home brushing, we can set a schedule for routine cleanings at our clinic.
As a veterinarian in South Coast that offers feline and canine dental care, Anchor Animal Hospital is equipped with a state of the art digital dental X-ray unit that can provide extremely high-quality images in less than five seconds. This helps our doctors to easily look at what’s going on under the gum line and find solutions to resolve difficult cases, such as painfully retained or abscessed tooth roots. Our team has a lot of experience working with advanced dentistry in Dartmouth, including surgical solutions for the removal of broken, infected, and other types of bad dental situations designed to decrease post-op pain and improve healing time.
Life-Long Care and Treatment
Our dental care for pets begins at your annual exam. We examine each pet’s mouth and teeth as part of our routine care. This is a great time to start talking about feline or canine dental care with your veterinarian in South Coast. We can provide you with more information about our routine cleaning and advanced dentistry in Dartmouth, based on your needs and interests. Give us a call at 508-996-3731 to schedule an appointment or to learn more about our veterinary dental services.