Pet Dentistry | Silverson Vet Clinic

Small Animal Dentistry

Did you know that "Periodontal Disease" is the most common disease seen in small animal practice? It's not surprising really - we brush our teeth twice a day but our pets don't!

80% of dogs over 3 years old and 50% of cats have a degree of dental disease! Please don't let your pet be one of them. We are here to help ensure your pets have a clean, hygienic and pain free mouth.

What is "Periodontal Disease"?

Dental disease starts out from plaque formation - plaque is a biofilm that develops on the hard tooth surface. Plaque occurs daily, developing very quickly after a teeth clean - this is why we brush our teeth twice a day!

Plaque induces Periodontal Disease (PD) - the first stage of which is "Gingivitis" - red, swollen, painful gums that bleed easily. Bacteria produce foul smelling substances that gives the animal bad breath or "halitosis" Intervention at this early stage can reverse the disease processes.

Plaque presence causes "calculus" to form on the tooth, very hard, brown material that can only be cracked and scraped off the tooth. Ongoing disease or "periodontitis", causes the inflammed gingiva (gums) to recede, the inflammation causes loss of the normally strong attachments of the tooth to its bony socket. The infection grows, invading deeper pockets around the tooth and bone, eventually causing bone loss to occur. The disease process at this stage is now irreversible.

Systemic infection can occur in other organs of the body - bacterial spread through the bloodstream can cause abcesses or disease in the kidneys, heart and liver.

What can we do to ensure our pets' have painfree mouths?

If we treat the animals at the early stages of disease, the disease process can be reversible. We add on a home care plan to suit you and your pet, so you can protect your investment in dental care and have peace of mind your pet will have a painfree mouh

Comprehensive Dental Examinations & Treatments include:

1) Dental Consultation - to assess your pets' dental condition & advise treatment.

2) Full Mouth Dental Xrays - to assess all teeth above & below the jawbones.

3) Extract any diseased, dead or fractured teeth.

4) Scale & Polish - to remove all plaque, tartare then polish the teeth.

5) Complete Dental Home Care Education - you will advised on how to protect your investment in your pets dental care through life-long home oral care.

6) FREE 3 monthly Dental Checkups for Life - speaks for itself!

Do you HAVE TO use general anaesthesia?

Even though some of our animal patients will tolerate a brief oral exam - we will not impose probing of their gums, nor anything like scaling nor tooth removal, whilst awake!

Examination and probing of gums is painful. Red, swollen gums are painful. Bad breath indicates dental disease - painful! We are sure you would not want your pets to undergo painful examinations.

Furthermore, just scaling and polishing teeth does nothing to examine, diagnose nor treat the underlaying disease processes that will be present in the gingiva, pockets and tooth roots.

The Australian Veterinary Association DOES NOT condone teeth scaling and polishing without general anaesthesia.

Are Xrays Necessary?

By investing in quality dental equipment we can provide the very best in dental care for your pet. Intraoral radiographs have revealed underlying pathology in 30% of dogs and 41% of cats where no abnormal findings were found on oral examination alone.

Cats and dogs are their own worst enemy as they hide pain. Dental x-ray is a visual way of diagnosing pathology & proving a pets discomfort is present. The teeth might present with no abnormal findings on the surface but an x-ray can demonstrate abscesses, resorption of bone & fractures - alerting us that treatment is required.

Finding more pathology and planning treatment confirms our role as a caring, effective veterinary professional. Human dentists take x-rays when you visit & we should expect no lesser treatment for our pets. We need to see what is happening below the gum where a whole world awaits that we just can’t see without x-ray. With dental x-ray we can say with confidence that we are giving your pets the highest level of care and treatment.

Xrays are essential to fully examine the whole tooth & jaw, allowing us to determine the health of the whole oral cavity.

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