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Canine
Periodontal Disease
"Kira",
owned by Dawn, showing off her pearly teeth and smile.
Many people have laughed
when I told them that I brush my dog's teeth or even that there
IS such a thing as "dentists for dogs". However, care for your best
friend's teeth
is no laughing matter and just as important as caring for your own.
Many vets recommend regular
teeth cleaning that sometimes must be done under anesthesia.
If your veternarian is recommending dental work, it is probably because your dog has
periodontal disease. That means that your dog has an infection in the gums, and may
possibly
even have it in the ligaments and bones around the teeth. That can be very serious.
Periodontal disease in dogs is extremely common because most people really don't think
about brushing
their dog's teeth or routine care.
Since animals don’t brush their teeth after each meal, food sticks to the teeth.
Bacteria grows on the food, and then spreads into the gums and the tissues around the
teeth. That infection is the basic problem with periodontal disease.
To remove the infection, and to properly inspect each tooth and perform extractions
(pull teeth) or other advanced treatments, anesthesia is necessary. Anesthesia is nowhere
near as risky as it used to be.
Good vets take a number of precautions to minimize risk to pets during anesthetic
periodontal work,
and you should not hesitate to ask your vet what precautions she intends to take with your
dog.
The benefits of performing dental work on pets
often far outweigh the risks. There are significant risks in not performing
dental
work when periodontal disease is present. Dental disease has been demonstrated to
contribute to: infections in the heart and possibly the liver and kidneys, autoimmune
disease, malaise, lethargy,
chronic pain, decreased lifespan, loss of the ability to smell, aggression,
pathologic weight loss,
skin problems, and death.
Some of the more common
signs of a dental problem include:
1. Changes in Eating Habits - Changes in eating habits in animals with dental problems can
range from partial to
complete anorexia, preference for soft food rather than hard food, chewing on one
side, dropping food from the mouth, and running away from the food dish following
attempts to eat.
2. Halitosis - "bad breath"
3. Pawing at the Mouth - While pawing at their mouths, they may also demonstrate abnormal
manipulations of the
mouth (i.e., widely opening the mouth, "chattering" of the teeth, and tilting of
the
mouth to one side.
4. Abnormal Salivation - Animals with dental disease may be examined because of
hypersalivation or abnormal salivation including thick purulent saliva or blood-
tinged saliva.
5. Oral Hypersensitivity and/or Facial Swelling - Oral hypersensitivity is often a sign of
a dental problem as is facial swelling.
Animals may resent being toughed around the face and may have a significant change in
temperament associated with dental pain. Various types of facial swelling may be
associated with dental problems.
6. Draining Tracts
7. Oral Hemorrhage
8. Sneezing and Nasal Discharge - Sneezing and nasal discharge, either mucopurulent or
hemorrhagic, is a very common
sign of dental disease. These signs are associated with an oronasal fistula which is
a communication between the oral and nasal cavity or an oroantral fistula which is a
communication between the oral cavity and maxillary sinus. The tooth that most
frequently causes oronasal fistulations is the maxillary canine tooth. This tooth
frequently has deep palatal periodontal pockets that extend into the nasal cavity.
Less frequently nasal discharge and sneezing can be related to severe periodontal
disease of the maxillary premolars and molars resulting in oronasal or oroantral
fistulas. Incisor teeth may also be infrequently associated with oronasal fistulas.
Endodontic disease may also be a cause of sneezing and nasal discharge.
9. Abnormal Behavior - Another sign that may be associated with a dental problem is
abnormal behavior. Animals with dental pain may hide or whine, refuse to go outside
or become aggressive and irritable.
10. Ophthalmic Changes
A healthy mouth smells good
and feels good. The teeth are clean and the gums are coral pink. If your dog or cat
is more than two or three years old and like most pet owners, you haven't been doing
anything in particular to keep the teeth clean, this is probably what you will notice:
mouth odor, brownish deposits on the back teeth, and thin margin of redness along the gum
line. This may be early periodontal disease and the teeth need attention. Those brown
deposits extend underneath the gums, bringing bacteria into the tooth socket. The gums are
infected. At this stage, by having the teeth cleaned and doing some simple things to
keep the mouth healthy, you can keep your pet comfortable and happy without a great deal
of trouble or expense.
Moderate periodontal disease is what is seen in the mouths of older pets. Unless there has
been some attention to dental health, and especially if soft food is being fed, this is
what we get. The mouth looks bad and smells bad. One third to one half of the root
attachment has been lost and part of the bone structure that is supposed to support the
tooth is gone. It is uncomfortable for this pet to chew anything hard, so there is
less chewing and the mouth gets worse that much faster.
Today, this mouth can most often be returned to a decent condition without unreasonable
effort and expense. This may be how your vet treats the moderate periodontal disease:
First, the mouth must be cleaned up and the vet must remove the most seriously
affected teeth. The diseased space under the gums where bacteria live must be thoroughly
cleaned and sanitized. Then, the vet must pack that area with an antibiotic gel. It is
mixed immediately before application and injected into the space. This mixture solidifies
into a rubbery plastic, filling space under the gums. The plastic material gradually
dissolves over a two week period, continually releasing antibiotics. Clean and free from
infection, the gums can reattach to the teeth.
Depending on the state of the dog's mouth, more than one treatment may be needed.
However, with regular professional cleaning combined with good care at home, this pet can
once again have a healthy, comfortable, good smelling mouth.
With advanced periodontal disease, often teeth like this are in too bad of shape to save.
They may be loose and painful, and without heroic efforts by owner and periodontist, they
will be loose and painful until they fall out or are extracted. A mouth like this
can get comfortable and good smelling again, but often only by extracting the worst teeth.
So brush
your dog's teeth today and see your vet routinely!
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