If you are like me, my dog Chubbs IS my kid. I love her and want her to live the longest life she can. I also like getting kisses from her, I like her breath smelling good and I like her feeling her best and being pain free. I know that keeping her teeth healthy will have a great impact on all of these things. Chubbs’ teeth are no different from mine. The same problems that can affect my teeth can affect hers. The same things that can cause dental decay, tooth loss, pain, and infections in my mouth can affect hers. Just as dental disease can lead to heart, liver, and kidney disease for me, it can do the same for her. So what do I do to prevent these problems? I brush her teeth daily, just like I do. It makes her breath smell better so she can give me more kisses. It removes plaque from her teeth, just like it does for me. Plaque is that film of bacteria on your teeth when you wake up in the morning. It will eventually become hard and turn into tartar. Brushing her teeth removes this bacteria and slows the tartar buildup. It also prevents it from getting under her gums and causing gingivitis.
Chubbs also benefits from the use of t/d, a tartar control food from Science Diet. It is clinically proven to reduce plaque and tartar build up. T/d works like an edible tooth brush- it is very hard and when she bites down into it, her teeth sink into the piece of food, which scrapes plaque off her teeth, much like a tooth brush would. So each time she eats t/d, it’s like brushing her teeth.
A new thing I’ve started doing for Chubbs is when I start to see little bits of tartar (that yellow stuff that is hard and collects on your pet’s teeth along the gum line), I will have our technicians do a hand scaling for her. They will use hand instruments and scrape the outside surface of her teeth to remove the small amounts of tartar that have built up. This will help remove bacteria from her mouth that can damage her gums, teeth, and her overall health. It will also help increase the times between her full dental cleanings. I have this done about every 2-3 months.
The last thing that I do to keep Chubbs’ teeth healthy is anesthetize her as needed to have a full dental cleaning done. We use an ultrasonic cleaner to chip away all the tartar that has collected on her teeth. This allows us to reach all surfaces of all the teeth and to remove the tartar that we can see as well as the tartar we can’t. This is so important because if that tartar was allowed to remain on her teeth, the bacteria that makes up the tartar would ease its way under her gums, up to the roots of her teeth. This will damage the roots, leading to tooth decay, tooth loss, tooth abscesses, and pain. This bacteria would eventually get into her blood stream and cause infections in her heart, liver and kidneys, leading to major medical problems and shortening her life.
I want Chubbs to live as long as she possibly can so I make her dental care a number one priority in my life. I’ve seen too many a pet with dental disease so severe that we have to pull most if not all of their teeth. These pets are in a lot of pain but owners are often unaware because pets are great at hiding illness. But after these rotting teeth are removed, the owners can’t believe how much better their pet feels and wish they had known sooner. I never want to Chubbs to have to experience that pain. So I show her how much I love her by taking care of her teeth. Show your pet how much you love them and make their dental care a number one priority in your life! We offer free dental exams to evaluate your pet’s teeth and are offering 10% off dental cleanings under anesthesia for your pet during the month of February. Call 757-7979 to make an appointment today.