"How do my dog's teeth look, Doc?"

So, you think we can just look at a tooth
and tell how much disease is present? 

Take a look at the adjacent photos. At first blush, the teeth look pretty healthy. But, when we probed further and performed radiographs, we found some pretty significant disease and two teeth had to be extracted. This illustrates something really important:  we can’t simply look at a tooth and know how diseased it is. We need to probe around the tooth and perform radiographs to look at the bone that supports the tooth in the mouth to determine if periodontal disease is present and to determine whether or not a tooth can be saved. That is why we need anesthesia. And, that is why radiographs are so important in treating many of our patients effectively when it comes to dental disease. We still get surprised at the amount of disease we can’t see just by looking. Just last week, Dr. John scheduled a “routine” dental cleaning but got some big surprises when he did the complete oral exam under anesthesia and even more surprises when he finished full mouth radiographs. He called the owners with the treatment plan and proceeded to extract one abscessed tooth and treat several other roots with an antibiotic gel to stop the disease process.  

One other thing:  Remember that gingival sulcus?  

When disease starts happening here, things start to get serious; without appropriate treatment by a veterinarian, irreversible damage can occur. The reason I bring it up AGAIN, is because I want to address hand scaling. I frequently hear people say that their dog’s teeth were hand scaled the last time they saw the groomer, or that they scale their pet’s teeth at home. Or, people ask why we need to anesthetize an animal to perform a cleaning. When an animal is awake, it *may* be doable to remove buildup from the visible part of the tooth, but it is impossible to clean effectively below the gum; this just doesn’t address the problem because disease is happening BELOW the gum, not on the tooth surface. The teeth may look pretty after they have been hand scaled, but the real problem is being ignored. It reminds me of cleaning my room growing up. It was easy to hide stuff under the bed or in drawers and the room looked good, but it was still a mess. Notice also that I said hand scaling *may* be doable. I say *may* because calculus is so hard to break up that sharp instruments and an ultrasonic scaler really are the only effective means of doing so. Here’s what the American Veterinary Dental College has to say about why we shouldn't hand scale teeth on an awake pet (link). Besides, polishing the teeth after scaling is an important part of our dental procedure because it leaves a smooth surface; plaque and calculus has a harder time developing on a smooth surface.  

A combination of home care and professional care by a trained veterinary professional will pay dividends: early identification of problems improves our chance of successfully treating your pet, saving teeth if possible and minimizing discomfort. Call our office (262-569-0801) to schedule a dental consultation. We’re so thrilled with the successes we’ve had. If you are concerned about anesthesia with your pet, check out this behind-the-scenes video on dentistry and anesthesia at our hospital.

Brush my pet's teeth? Hahahahahahah."

by Dr. Leyla Wirth

Think for a minute about how your teeth feel when you haven’t had a chance to brush them.  Pretty filmy, right?  Now think about what happens when teeth aren’t brushed for months or years.  Yikes!!  It makes me wonder how our pets must feel.  Many owners will laugh at us when we suggest brushing their pet’s teeth or are reluctant to do so, but it is so important that we actually made a video to show you how to get started (click here for video).  And not that we don’t want to see you, but regular brushing at home may mean fewer dental procedures over the course of your pet's life; not only does this decrease the need for general anesthesia, but it helps your pocket book, too.  So why is brushing so important?  Well, let’s take a look at what happens over time with your pet’s teeth. 

We’ll start with a little lesson in anatomy. 

We’ll keep it simple and there won’t be any quizzes.  But, understanding the structure of the tooth and surrounding tissue will help with understanding how dental disease develops in your pet’s mouth and why brushing is so important. Take a look at the picture to the right.  Take a good look at the gingival sulcus and the pulp canal.  We’ll come back to that.

Dental disease is progressive
Early stages of dental disease are reversible but if allowed to continue, permanent damage can occur and your pet’s overall health suffers.  The process starts out insidiously enough with that slimy film on the crown of the tooth.  The film, called plaque, is a mixture of bacteria and residue from the food your pet eats. Plaque can be removed with regular brushing of the teeth.  If the plaque isn’t removed with regular brushing, this film hardens into something called calculus.   Calculus is so hard that it cannot be removed with brushing.  As I’ll discuss below, calculus can lead to even bigger problems.  That’s why it’s so important to brush!  And... brush the teeth three times a week, not just when the dog is at the groomer.

Calculus (mineralized deposits on teeth)
Early on, calculus is found primarily on the exposed tooth surface – the part that you can see if you dare peek in your pet’s mouth.  But remember that gingival sulcus?  Calculus is like a magnet for more calculus and eventually the calculus expands and starts to creep under the gums into the sulcus.  This is when big problems happen.  Here, the bacteria in the hardened calculus infect the gums and cause inflammation. That’s called gingivitis.  Gingivitis is reversible but if left untreated, the infection and inflammation will spread to the tissues that support the tooth in the mouth.  This process is called periodontal disease.  Periodontal disease affects both the soft tissue and the bone that supports the tooth in the socket.  As periodontal disease advances, the bone around the tooth is destroyed, and the tooth loosens.  Ouch!!  Our goal is to catch problems early, when they are reversible.  By doing so, we can limit your pet’s discomfort and improve their quality of life.

Brushing your pet’s teeth is the single most effective means of preventing irreversible dental disease.  But, we all know how hard this can be.  So, what happens if dental disease is already present?  Stay tuned and next time we’ll talk about evaluating pets with dental disease and things we can do to help.