Keeping Your Pet's Mouth Healthy, Part 3

As seen in this picture, Bhaer presented to us with a Dental Grade 3 mouth on the morning of January 12th, 2012.
Before doing any treatments, the veterinarian will perform a pre-surgical exam, including bloodwork, to ensure the animal is healthy. Pre-anesthetic medication is given to make the patient sleepy then we intubate him/her.

Doing this allows us:
• unlimited access to the mouth,
• the ability to perform all the actions necessary during the procedure,
• to prevent any fluid and bacteria (loosened from the teeth) from
going in to the lungs,
• to keep our patient pain-free throughout the entire procedure by
utilizing inhalant anesthesia.

While anesthetized, all patients are closely monitored; we watch their temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, ECG tracing, respirations, blood-oxygen saturation, and carbon dioxide levels. We also place a catheter and administer fluids.

Here, you see our technician scaling Bhaer’s teeth to remove the plaque and tartar.

As you can see, we need to reach far into the mouth to get to all the teeth. Can you imagine your pet sitting still and permitting a technician do this while awake??

Then we progress to probing the gums. This tells us about the health of the gingiva; we measure pocket depth and furcation (the space between the roots). This is another action that patients do not allow if they are awake for the dental.

Once that is finished, the mouth is sprayed and cleaned out, then each tooth is polished. Aside from making the teeth pearly-pretty the polish serves to smooth the tooth surface, removing any divots where bacteria can adhere.

Every dental prophylactic procedure here at West Ridge Animal Hospital includes full-mouth digital dental radiographs. Teeth are a little like icebergs in that so much of them is hidden under the gums. Radiographs allow the veterinarian to see the roots and pinpoint any previously undetected issues. It is not uncommon for pets to present with what seems to be a good dental grade, only to find problems lurking in the roots.

Finally, the veterinarian checks over the entire mouth, assessing the teeth and performing any necessary extractions, mass removals, or other oral surgery. Bhaer, fortunately, did not require any of these procedures.

See the difference a dental prophylactic procedure makes!

Please note: You may notice the shape and color change to B's upper fang. This was from years of cage chewing before he was adopted. The brown color change is not 'dirt' or 'stain" but restorative dentin. When worn down slowly the tooth tries to heal and protect itself from invasion of the pulp chamber by putting a layer of thicker dentin over the chamber. In Baher's case, the radiographs and dental probing confirmed that the crown was intact and safe. We see similar changes in dogs who fetch tennis balls year after year.