Many cats and dogs experience dental problems, with around 85% over 3 years of age suffering from dental disease, leading to ill health and pain. If your pet is experiencing dental problems, you may notice plaque and tartar build up on the teeth, redness of the gums, smelly breath and even a reluctance to eat due to pain.
Dental care for your pet needs to start as early as possible, ideally when they are very young. Healthy teeth are bright white with healthy pink gums, and regular home dental care can prevent the need for expensive dental procedures later on.
The ideal dental care for your pet is brushing their teeth – but obviously this isn’t always easy to do! Thankfully we have many different methods of preventing plaque and tartar build up in your pet.
If dental care is neglected in your pet, plaque and tartar build up on the teeth, which will lead to gingivitis – inflammation and infection of the gums. If this develops, the problem will spread below the gum line, leading to infections deep in the tooth socket. This will cause the tooth to lose stability and may eventually lead to loss of the tooth. If the problem is identified before this stage, a dental for your dog or cat, involving a simple scale and polish under a general anaesthetic, alongside improved home dental care, will hopefully prevent any teeth from being removed during the dental procedure.
Contact Chestnut vets in Ware or Hertford for advice or a dental check-up on 01920 400572, and don’t forget to mention that you spotted them on thebestof Herford!
