Just like humans, dogs and cats need their teeth cleaned from time to time, too. Our dental cleaning procedure involves scaling and polishing of each tooth, which removes the buildup of tartar and plaque and prevents periodontal disease from developing. If problem areas are identified, our veterinarians can treat with root planing or surgically remove them – a procedure called dental extraction.
To properly clean your pet’s teeth, dental cleanings are done under anesthesia. This allows us to ensure your pet’s safety, scale and polish all sides of each tooth, and clean up under the gum line. We take every precaution to keep your pet safe, including running pre-anesthetic blood tests to check your pet’s health. While your pet is under anesthesia, we monitor his or her heart rate, respiration rate, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, and other important vital signs. Every patient receives intravenous fluid therapy during the procedure to maintain proper blood pressure and hydration. Once the procedure is complete, we monitor your pet carefully while he or she wakes up from the anesthesia. We stay with him or her and employ techniques that soothe and relax your pet so that he or she wakes up comfortably. By the time your pet is ready to go home, he or she will have completely woken up from anesthesia and leave our clinic with a sparkling, healthy smile.
Our radiography equipment allows us to take digital x-rays of your pet’s teeth. This gives our veterinarian a look at the aspects of the tooth that are below the gum line. This will allow our veterinarians to evaluate the tooth to assess viability, the extent of disease, and problem areas that can’t be seen by an oral examination alone.
