Dental Health Care
Dental Health Care
Protocol for your pet's Dental Procedure:
No other procedure performed on small animals does more to help patients than routine teeth cleaning and after- care. The dental visit for cleaning must be performed in a methodical manner. All nine steps are important and interlinked. When one step is not performed, long term patient benefit suffers.
- Oral examination on the awake animal: The face is checked for abnormal swellings. The mouth is opened and closed noting any pain or grinding in the temporomandibular (TMJ) joints. Depending on the pet’s cooperative nature, the oral exam evaluates the teeth and gums for pathology and for masses, swellings or cavities.
- Oral examination under General Anesthesia: Individual teeth are examined for mobility, fractures, malocclusion, and periodontal disease, as well as probed for pocket depths after calculus is removed.
- Supragingival ("Above the Gum Line") Cleaning: Removal of plaque and calculus are done with the use calculus forceps, hand scalers, and ultrasonic cleaners.
- Subgingival ("Below the Gum Line") Cleaning: This is one of the most important steps in the total dental prophylaxis. Subgingival plaque and calculus are what causes periodontal
disease. They are effectively removed with the use of hand-sharpened curettes that reach up to 5mm below the gum line. - Polishing: The removal of plaque and calculus causes microscopic roughening of the tooth surface, which increases the ability of the plaque and calculus to adhere to it. Polishing will smooth the surface and decrease the adhesive ability of plaque.
- Irrigation: Supragingival and subgingival cleaning of the teeth will cause a lot of debris to become trapped under the gums resulting in local inflammation and increasing the chance of future periodontal disease. To prevent this, the gingiva are gently flushed with an antibacterial or saline solution..
- Fluoride Treatment: Fluoride foam is used to permeate teeth with fluoride to harden the dentin of the tooth and to decrease tooth sensitivity. It is also reported to slow the formation of feline oral resorptive lesions as well as prevent the build-up of plaque.
- Treatment Planning: Using a periodontal probe, the technician will determine if there are any periodontal pockets. Once periodontal pockets have been identified, a treatment plan is developed (with the owners input) to reestablish the patient’s oral health.
- Dental Charting: All of the patient's pertinent oral findings and treatments are noted on a dental chart and placed in the patient’s permanent medical record. This will allow the doctors to follow the patient’s progress through the years.
For more in-depth discussions on these topics and other dental information, please visit www.dentalvet.com.