How To Brush Your Pet's Teeth  

Pets are an important part of our lives for many years.  Dental care is important to extend your pet's good health and quality years with you.   Dental disease is the most common problem seen in our pet popula­tion today. More than 85% of all dogs and cats presented to veterinarians are affected by dental problems. Peri­odontal disease is what causes bad breath, as well as eventual tooth loss.  It can also lead to bacterial infections of the heart, heart valves, liver and kidneys.  Just 1 mg of dental plaque contains over 1 trillion bacteria!!!  

We recommend daily dental care at home for your pets, just like the rest of the family. It is best to begin home care at an early age (8-12 weeks) during puppy or kittenhood but it is never too late. Visible tartar should be removed ultrasonically in a process known as scaling and polishing just like when people go to the dentist. This makes your home care efforts easier and more effective. Always remember to make it fun!  

Week 1 - Slowly Acquainting Your Pet with Mouth Care

Using your hand, gently open the pet's mouth and run your finger around his or her lips, lifting the lips. This should begin for just 30 seconds on day one and progressing to a couple of min­utes by the end of the week. Reward your pet with a small treat or T/D at the end of each session (no “people food" please).  

Week 2 - Introducing Toothbrush or Washcloth

This week, use either a wet washcloth wrapped around your index finger or wet toothbrush on the teeth. Lift the lips and massage the outer surfaces only of upper and lower teeth using a back and forth motion. Do this for 30 seconds on day one, progressing up to 3 minutes by the end of the week.  

Week 3- Add Toothpaste, Extend Brushing Time

First let your pet smell and lick the pet toothpaste. Then use your dental clearing instrument and now add 1/2 inch of toothpaste to brush the outer surfaces only of upper and lower teeth in a back and forth motion.

A FEW POINTERS

*Always treat at the end of each session, making it enjoyable.  PRAISE HIGHLY.

*If your pet shows any indication of aggression (growling, bearing teeth, biting, scratching), stop immediately Call the hospital for further professional advice.

*Never use human toothpaste. Vomiting is common if this is done. It is too high in fluoride

*Cleaning at home will reduce the frequency of professional care needed to once yearly.

*Won't a Milkbone a day take care of it? NO! If you ate a Milkbone a day would you never have to brush your teeth? Of course you would still need to brush.  Milkbones help, but aren't enough by themselves.

DENTAL CLEANING

Research shows that proper dental care is probably the most important thing you can do to add years and quality to your pet's life.

Pet dental care is important because:

1.  Gum infections hurt!

2.  Gum and teeth diseases lead to other infections such as endocarditis (heart valve infection), kidney, and liver infections.

3.  The pet will be more pleasant to be around with no "bad breath"

4.  It will save you a lot of expense in caring for your pet in later years.

Proper dental prophylaxis involves the following steps:

1.  Laboratory testing to determine anesthesia safety. As the pet grows older, internal organs begin to fail. Even though your pet seems to be in "good health", blood testing often reveals subclinical problems that are treatable when caught in time.  

2.  Anesthesia is required since the pet will not "open wide". Sedation is required to do a thorough job. The part of the tooth under the gum line must be cleaned, as well as the exposed portion to really do much good. Sedatives are chosen with your pet’s utmost safety in mind, and are dictated by age, weight and physical condition.  

3.  Scaling of the teeth to remove tartar above and below the gum line is done with both hand instruments and ultrasonic cleaning equipment.  

4.  Polishing the teeth after scaling is important to "smooth down" the surfaces, making them much more resis­tant to additional plaque formation. Just like with coarse sandpaper, we must then polish (fine sandpaper) to make the teeth smooth. Many veterinarians are not yet equipped to polish properly. This must be taken into account when the total fee for the dental procedure is "priced". Without polishing, dental specialists say we are really doing the pet very little good.  

5.  Antiseptic flushing is important after polishing to rid the mouth of the ever-present bacteria so they do not in­vade the gums irritated during the cleaning. Solutions are actually flushed beneath the gum line to get rid of these germs.  

6.  Fluoride coating is included with the prophylaxis procedure because it decreases teeth sensitivity, strengthens enamel, has some antibacterial effects, and decreases the rate of future plaque formation .

7.  Antibiotics are often required in veterinary dentistry because teeth cleaning is not usually requested or suggested until tooth and gum disease is already present. Injectable antibiotics are used routinely. Oral medications are sometimes prescribed, depending upon the severity of infection.

Once the dental cleaning procedure has been completed, it is important that you apply the pet dentifrice recommended on a routine daily basis to help prevent future tartar formation.

Tooth problems

FRACTURED AND WORN TEETH

Fractured and worn teeth may be very painful to your pet.  The root of the tooth contains nerves that have the same connections as those in humans.  Have you ever had a toothache, open root or fractured tooth?  Ouch!!  All fractured teeth, worn teeth or abnormal gum tissue/swelling should be radiographed (x-rayed) to determine if there is involvement of the root.  Many of these teeth are already abscessed and should be treated.  Treatment may include antibiotics, pulse therapy antibiotics, extraction, root canal therapy, periodontal flaps, periodontal gels, products to promote new bone growth or follow up radiographs on a regular basis.  The therapy your pet needs will be determined at the time of dental surgery after a complete dental exam under anesthesia and initial x-rays.  

ROOT CANAL THERAPY  

Instead of removing all teeth that are badly disease, veterinarians prefer to use all the modern techniques available to save your pet’s teeth.  Root canal therapy, or endodontic treatment, is one such technique that can save teeth that would otherwise have to be extracted.   

The root canal is a canal that runs in the center of the root of every tooth.  It can be damaged by fracture of the tooth, a blow to the tooth, cavities, heat or strangulation of the vessels that feed the tooth.  The root canal, or pulp, consists of blood vessels, nerves, lymphatic vessels and connective tissue.  If the pulp of a tooth dies, the pulp cavity becomes a perfect environment for bacteria.  

Several months after the death of the pulp and invasion of bacteria, the bacteria can enter into the bone around the tooth socket.  This can set up a painful abscess, and eventual resorption of the root.  

Treatment

 There are two types of treatment for this condition.  The first is the extraction of the tooth.  Most dogs and cats will tolerate this procedure very well and it removes the source of pain and infection.  However, when a tooth is extracted the function of the tooth is lost.  The upper fourth premolars and lower first molar,  also known as carnassial teeth, are major chewing teeth.  In addition, there is a cosmetic factor.  Some teeth, the lower canines for example, act as a guide for the tongue.  Loss of this guide may cause the tongue to hand out the side of the mouth and opens up the potential for the patient to be chronically biting the tongue.  

The second type of treatment is endodontic (root canal) therapy.  There are basically five steps to root canal therapy.  First, the condition of the teeth is ascertained though dental exploration and x-rays.  Second, access to the pulp chamber is made.  Third, the canal is cleaned using special instruments to remove the dead tissue from the canal.  Fourth, the canal is sealed with a surface restorative sealer.  After treatment it is recommended that a radiograph (x-ray) be taken of the treated tooth in 6 months to make sure the procedure was successful.

Dental TREATments for Dogs

C.E.T. FORTE Chews

C.E.T. Chews for dogs are oral hygiene treats for dogs. The chews are intended to be given daily, when tooth brushing does not occur. C.E.T. Chews are coated with the C.E.T. Dual-Enzyme system, which eliminates the plaque-forming bacteria. Your pet receives a twofold benefit from the chews. As your dog chews, the abrasive texture of the rawhide helps remove plaque from the teeth. Additionally, as the saliva moistens the chew, the enzymes are released to activate the anti-bacterial system, which washes through the entire oral cavity killing the plaque-forming bacteria.  

Tooth brushing is the best form of plaque control and we urge you to try the C.E.T. Enzymatic Dentrifice (available in hound heavenly flavors of poultry, malt, and mint). Oral rinses are an easy and quick method of killing the bacteria within the oral cavity. C.E.T. Chews are designed to complement a home dental care program and are an excellent substitute when brushing is not possible.  

Choose the correct size for your dog. C.E.T. chews come in petite, medium, large, and X-large sizes. If the chew is too small, your dog will not receive the maximum dental benefit. For dogs on a restricted diet, please keep in mind that the petite chews contain approximately 28 calories, the medium contain roughly 32 calories, large contain nearly 64 calories, and the X-large have approximately 82 calories.

Dental TREATments for Cats

C.E.T. FORTE Chews

C.E.T. Chews for dogs are oral hygiene treats for cats. The chews are intended to be given daily, when tooth brushing does not occur, for the entire life of your pet. These treats are made from farm-raised, restaurant grade catfish and are specially treated with the C.E.T. FORTE antibacterial enzyme system to help maintain oral health. Clinical studies prove that daily use of C.E.T. FORTE Chews provides oral health benefit in its ability to reduce plaque and calculus accumulation as well as reduce the severity of gingivitis.  

Cats find C.E.T. FORTE Chews extremely palatable (83% of cats readily accepted the chew in a Palatability and Chew-Time Study). However, for those cats that do not immediately accept the treat, some of the following suggestions may help:  

If you are concerned about your cat’s waistline, consider that the C.E.T. FORTE Chew has 16 calories and should be given one per day.