Preventative Veterinary Oral Health Care & Pet Dental Care

Pet dental care has become an established component of good veterinary care. One of the best things pet owners can do to insure the overall health of their pet is to do routine checking of the teeth, gums and oral cavity.

Good preventive dental care and treatment of diseased teeth and gums can extend your pet’s life expectancy by two to four years. Dental tartar and the accompanying infection are not only painful but could eventually lead to heart, liver, and kidney disease.

Don’t be afraid to look in your pet’s mouth and inspect it for any foul looking or smelling characteristics! Studies indicate that by age three, more than 80% of dogs and 70% of cats show the beginning signs of gum disease. Bad breath could be an early warning sign of the dangerous gum disease gingivitis.

How can you be proactive about good pet dental hygiene?

• Bring your pet in to see us annually so we can conduct a thorough dental examination, determine if there are any oral health care issues present and then formulate a plan of action.
• We will show you how you can brush your pet’s teeth at home on a regular basis. Removing plaque, a soft deposit on the teeth, is essential to your pet’s good oral health. However, if your pet has tartar, a hard yellowish deposit on the teeth underneath the plaque, brushing will not remove it. You can determine if tartar is present by scheduling an oral exam with us.
• We may recommend specially formulated dietary foods to help reduce the accumulation of plaque on your pet’s teeth.

At San Pablo Animal Hospital we perform dental exams right along with your pet’s physical exams and discuss with you our findings and our recommendations. Should you note problems with bad breath, chipped teeth, tartar build-up, or change in eating habits, bring your cat or dog in to see us and we will treat the problem.