There is a price to pay for overlooking your pets dental health – and it’s more than the cost of a dental cleaning. An astounding 80 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats show signs of oral disease by age 3, according to the American Veterinary Dental Society (AVDS). Taking 5 minutes to brush your pet’s teeth can add as much as 5 years to his/her life.

Good oral health leads to good organ health. Your pet’s mouth can be a gateway to much more serious health issues including but not limited to: excessive tartar, tooth decay, and periodontal disease. A “simple” tooth abscesses can lead to other major medical conditions. Everything in the body is connected by blood. An infection in the mouth can very easily travel to other areas of the body causing systemic infection involving the heart, liver and kidneys. These circumstances are often very scary for the pet and the owner … they are also quite avoidable.

There are a variety of products on the market that can make “tooth brush time” fun for you and your pet. I would suggest a very fabulous chicken or poultry flavored toothpaste for our canine patrons, and we have a more delicate salmon flavor for the felines with the much more advanced palates. I’m told the taste is to die for! By making the toothpaste flavored, our pets think it’s more of a treat then a treatment. Oh, but there’s more! These products have an enzymatic property that allows the paste to work on left over problematic particles even after you are done brushing. There are also a variety of other products to use in conjunction with your tooth paste. Ask your veterinarian for details. When considering brushing your pet’s teeth, it is very important to keep in mind that their  bodies are different than ours. DO NOT USE TOOTH PASTE INTENDED FOR HUMANS OR PET TOOTHPASTE WITH FLUORIDE! It will upset your animal’s stomach.

In human dentistry we are taught to brush all three surfaces of our teeth: buccal (cheek), lingual (tongue), and crown. Contrary to human medicine, because of the nature in which our animals chew, we know that the most tartar accrues on the molars. Brushing the buccal surface of the molars and canine teeth every 24 hours helps keep that tartar from being able to accumulate on the tooth surfaces. THAT’S IT! Giving 5 minutes … to add 5 years … seems like a good deal to me. And honestly, it doesn’t even take that long.

If you are interested in having a dental assessment, please contact your veterinarian. You’ll save money and precious time.