At Rouse Hill Family Vets, we are huge advocates for your pets’ dental health. We regularly do dental x-rays for both cats and dogs, as well as recommend dental checks, prophylactic cleaning, and homecare for our patients to keep their teeth sparkly white.
✨️ Did You Know: Over 80% of cats and dogs that are just three years or older have some form of dental disease that needs immediate intervention to prevent their teeth from deteriorating?
Signs to look for that could indicate dental disease:
- Smelly breath
- Brown-coloured tartar build-up on the teeth
- Red and inflamed gums
- Loose/wobbly teeth
- Reluctant to eat as much as usual, sometimes, particularly on one side, and often more reluctant to eat harder style foods like kibble
✨️ What we can do to help:
DENTAL CHECKS
- We offer FREE dental checks by our highly trained nurses.
- These are recommended every 6 months in between annual vaccination appointments.
- At these appointments you will receive advice on:
- Whether any dental work is needed to be carried out
- A rough base estimate on what any procedures would potentially cost
- The most appropriate preventatives for your pet
- Demonstrations of dental brushing
PREVENTATIVES
- Daily teeth brushing: Just like humans, our pets can have their teeth brushed to prevent plaque and tartar from building up. This should ideally be done once a day. Our team can give you demonstrations and advice on how to introduce this so that your pet is comfortable with the procedure and not stressed by having their face/mouth handled.
🚫 IMPORTANT: Human toothpaste contains Fluoride which is toxic to dogs and cats so always ensure you use animal-specific toothpaste if you choose to use a paste with brushing. - Water Additives: We recommend the use of water additives in your pet’s regular drinking water. Oxyfresh or Teef are easy-to-use products for those that don’t tolerate brushing. These products are designed so that they cover the teeth in a more slippery coating so that plaque sticks less easily than it would usually. They are suitable for all pets, so great for multi-pet households!
- Dental Chews: For pets that love to chew we recommend Whimzees or Greenies. These are the safer alternative to feeding bones, as bones can sometimes cause tooth fractures, constipation, bowel obstruction, and other gastrointestinal problems.
**Always remember to supervise with any chew treat or toys to ensure our fur babies don’t get themselves into trouble **
- Enzadent: For pets that like to eat chews whole 😅 We know some pets don’t understand the concept of moderation so this one’s for them! Enzadent works in a unique way by being a traditional dental chew and helping with plaque in that sense, but it is also made of a special enzyme that is absorbed through the stomach when the chew is eaten and then released back through the saliva to coat the teeth and prevent plaque and tartar build-up. Enzadent is an easy-to-give daily treat that’s great for their teeth too!
SCALE AND POLISH CLEANS
- We offer prophylactic teeth cleaning to prevent plaque and tartar from causing further decay to the teeth.
- Scales are recommended at least once a year for animals over 3 years old.
- Dental procedures are always done under general anaesthetic to ensure your pets are as safe as possible. We have a dedicated anaesthetic nurse with each patient to continually monitor them while a vet cleans their teeth back to sparkly white! We can also perform in-house pre-anaesthetic blood testing for our elderly or sick patients or anyone with any worries about their pet.
DENTAL WORK
- If you believe your pet is requiring dental work to be done on loose, broken or otherwise compromised teeth, our vets are able to perform extractions while under general anaesthetic.
- Dental X Rays: We routinely perform dental x-rays to ensure that teeth are healthy even below the gum lines. Cats in particular often get a condition called resorptive lesions, which are similar to cavities in humans, however, these can pop up even under the gums not just on the teeth that we can see. These are incredibly painful and unfortunately, the affected teeth need to be removed to prevent further spread and alleviate pain from the mouth. Dental x-rays ensure we provide the best possible dental treatment for our patients.
- Occasionally we will come across conditions that are beyond removing diseased or misplaced teeth so we can offer referral to specialised dental veterinarians if required.
👇 Pictured are some very painful cat teeth with responsive lesions, bone and gum loss due to infection. This particular patient was experiencing some reluctance to eat, so mum brought her in for a check-up. On a veterinary exam, we discovered some dental disease and this is one of her x-rays. You can see the black holes in the middle of the teeth which are eating away at the roots of the teeth. Cats and dogs can be very stoic and often don’t show us any signs until they are in too much pain to eat. Luckily we have now removed these affected teeth and our patient is back to eating comfortably and pain-free!
