Alternative content

Mouth problems in pets are common but the signs are often not visible to the owner until the disease is pretty well advanced.

Signs of mouth problems, including dental problems, are:

• bad breath
• lack of appetite
• pawing at mouth or rubbing of mouth on furnishing
• drooling of saliva
• difficulty or pain in swallowing
• tooth or jaw chattering is an indication of pain
• inability to open the mouth
• inability to close the mouth

When presented with one of those problems, x-rays, blood tests, culture or biopsies may be necessary to find out the nature of the problem.

If the teeth are a cause for concern, the vet or nurse will discuss dental treatment with you. Depending on the severity of the mouth problem antibiotics may be needed prior to the dental surgery to prevent bacteria from spreading further into the body.

In order to perform dental surgery in animals, they will require a general anaesthetic. The general principles of surgery apply to dental work as well.
X-rays will be taken where necessary.

The normal procedure at our practice for dental work is to start with a scale and polish of all teeth. This allows a cleaner environment to then check all the teeth individually and assess whether extractions are required.

Following any necessary extractions, the remaining teeth will be polished.

Pets will receive painkillers if extractions have occurred during dental surgery and if infection is present, antibiotic cover will be provided.

We normally ask clients to bring their pets back to the surgery two days following surgery to ascertain that healing in the mouth is occurring satisfactorily. A repeat visit is not normally necessary following a scale and polish unless there has been gingivitis in which case the vet will want to check at the end of treatment whether the gingivitis has fully resolved.

A dental chart will be given out to clients upon discharge with a sketch of the remaining teeth, the ones extracted and the teeth requiring special attention. Follow up care is briefly mentioned in the dental chart and will be further discussed at the post operative check.

Where problems are quite severe in the mouth, a repeat visit will be scheduled with the nurse and a reminder system is in place at the surgery for repeat dental visits.

We commonly provide dental care service for cats, dogs, rabbits and some small furries.