Maintaining dental health is an extremely important part of your pet's overall health.  Poor dental health can contribute to tooth decay, a painful mouth, bad breath, tooth abscesses, liver disease, kidney disease, heart disease and other organ dysfunction.  We evaluate the status of your pet's teeth each year during their annual wellness exam. Once we determine a need for dental care, we offer a wide array of dental services for your pet.

A routine dental cleaning involves:

• General anesthesia (with intubation to protect the airway)
• Pain medicine to minimize any soreness during and after cleaning.
• Hand and Ultrasonic scaling of tartar from all tooth surfaces
• Full oral exam and dental charting
• Polishing all tooth surfaces

Some of the other dental procedures we perform include:

• Extractions of retained deciduous (baby) teeth.  This is typically done at the same time as your pet is spayed/neutered.
• Extractions of diseased or damaged teeth as necessary to improve overall health and comfort.
• Installation of antibiotic gel into periodontal pockets (pockets under the gums) to help fight infection and to help prevent tooth decay by making the pockets smaller.
• Surgical gingivectomy. In this procedure, extra gingival (gum) tissue that traps bacteria and debris is trimmed back.
• Biopsy and/or removal of some growths in the mouth.

Some pets may ultimately need specialized dental care. In the event your pet needs this type of care, we will refer your to a veterinary dentist or oral surgeon.