our advice: ASK DR. CATE
Vet Rap by
Dr. Ryan Cate
Finding a Dental
Care Routine For
Your Pets
Dear Dr. Cate: My pet’s teeth are slightly discolored.
I know there are lots of products out there, and I
know that many vet’s offer specialized dental care.
What should my pet’s dental care routine be?
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Answer: To address the significance of oral health
care for pets, the American Veterinary Medical
Association sponsors National Pet Dental Health
Month every February, so your question is very
timely. Our pets need preventative dental care and a
routine just like we do to keep their teeth healthy.
Starting with puppies and kittens, each should
lose all of their baby or milk teeth by six months of
age. If there are any left behind they will need to
be extracted. You can tell the difference between
permanent teeth and baby teeth because the perma-
nent teeth are less sharp and are larger than the baby
teeth. If the baby teeth are left in place, they can
cause periodontal disease at a young age because of
tartar and debris building up in your animal’s mouth.
If extraction is necessary, a good time to do this is
when you bring them to your vet to be spayed or
neutered so they would only have to be anesthetized
once. The vet will also look at the puppy or kitten’s
bite to make sure there aren’t any problems.
After this six month check and all their baby
teeth are gone, most dogs and cats’ teeth can be
looked at annually during their routine veterinary
exam. Just like we go to the dentist every six months
for a cleaning, that’s an appropriate timeline for
smaller dogs like Shih Tzu, Yorkies and Dachshunds.
Larger breeds can wait a year to 18 months between
dental checkups while most dogs need to be
checked each year.
At the checkup your vet will evaluate your
animal’s mouth and give them a 1-4 rating, with
one meaning only mild accumulation on the teeth
to four with solid black or green on the teeth. Based
on the rating your animal may need extensive clean-
ing, polishing and maybe even radiographs of the
teeth so the vet can see what’s going on under the
surface. Unfortunately, if you can see accumulation
on your animal’s teeth it is too late for you to do
anything about it. It will require your vet scaling off
the accumulation and your animal might need more
extensive treatment to look at accumulations in the
pockets around the teeth and the gums. Extraction
may also be necessary for any teeth that move when
touched. Those teeth will not heal and need to be
removed.
I’ve been asked what to use when cleaning a
pet’s teeth. I recommend looking for the VOHC
seal. The seal is given by the Veterinary Oral Health
Council to some animal foods, rawhide and other
pet treats, rinsing products, dental gels, mouth sprays
and other items. The seal means that the product
has been tested and actually does something to help
your pet’s dental health.
I can’t express the need enough to brush your
animal’s teeth. Most owners don’t, so even if you
can do it a couple times a week it will mean a big
difference in the health of your pet. In the past, many
vets didn’t pay much attention to your pet’s teeth.
But if you’ve ever had a toothache yourself, you
know that oral pain is real pain. Since teeth are a
living organism they have to be taken care of. And
the best person to take care of your pet’s teeth is you
with help from the one that takes care of all your
other animal concerns. Your trusted family vet.