Calculus and gingivitis on this dog's upper teeth

Dental disease is the most common disorder we see in dogs and cats.  While we do see a very few pets who have minimal dental disease, even later in their life, the vast majority of pets will develop some level of it in their lives.  Some pets, such as toy breed dogs, are predisposed and need more frequent dental work and home care if they are to keep their teeth.  Cats have a unique type of lesion called a resorptive lesion where a reabsorption of their tooth occurs, which causes severe pain.

When we schedule your pet for a dental cleaning, our goal is to interrupt the progression of dental disease that leads to tooth loss.  We will also want to resolve any problems like tooth abcesses, broken teeth, or resorptive lesions that may cause your pet discomfort.  It is important to realize that we cannot always identify everything that is going on in the mouth before we have your pet anesthetized.  Anesthesia is required to do a good job of cleaning teeth and examining and if necessary, performing other procedures on the teeth.  Because we can't know all the work that is required ahead of time, it is critical that we be able to contact you during the procedure to inform you of any additional work that must be done.  We will not do any additional work without your consent, so you can imagine that it would be very frustrating for us to see an obvious problem, such as a bad tooth that needs to be extracted, and not be able to reach you to receive permission to do it.  For this reason, please schedule this procedure for a day when you will be available by phone during the morning.

  Healthy, pink gums in this dog's mouth