The Most Important Pet Dental Health Facts You Should Know

Pet dental health facts are very important to be known by any person who has a pet animal to help him to provide optimum care for his pet, At beginning let me tell you one of the important pet dental health facts is that the oral cavity of dogs is cleaner than the oral cavity of humans, but this doesn't negate that it needs continuous cleaning and proper care of your pet teeth can increase its lifespan and quality of life.

Pet dental care:

One of the very important pet dental health facts is that pet dental care is very important as periodontal diseases are the most common diseases of pet animals and most preventable also, they are most common in dogs. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association; About 80% of dogs develop periodontal diseases at age of 3. So knowing a lot of pet dental health facts will help you to prevent these diseases and help pet animals to live high-quality lives. Dental health helps your pet to live 20% longer around 2-4 years. 

Pet dental health facts | 4 ways to protect pets oral cavities:

One of the pet dental health facts you should know is that about ⅔ of a dog's teeth are hidden under the gum, so they can have dental disease which is not seen, so proper care of their oral cavity is very important. We will discuss 4 effective ways to protect pets' oral cavities.

1- Continuous check-up 

Continuous checkup of a pet's oral cavity is one of the recognized pet animal health facts we should consider either by the pet owners once a week or by a veterinary doctor at least once a year. Taking your pet animal to a veterinary doctor is necessary to examine its dental health, educate you about pet dental health facts, check up its mouth breath,  search for any signs of dental diseases like gum swelling, diagnose it by using an X-ray and if there is any problem or disease, he will treat it.

2-Brushing their teeth 

 We can consider brushing pet animals' teeth one of the most important pet animals health facts at all, it's the most effective method for pet animals' dental care. It's better to begin brushing your pet's teeth when they are younger as much as possible to keep their teeth clean and to adapt to the matter so it wouldn't be a stressful event for them. 

To achieve optimum teeth brushing you can follow these pieces of advice:

-Don't force your pets to brush their teeth, keep them calm as much as possible. 

-Pet's teeth brushing is better done by the veterinary Doctor under anesthesia, this is safer and less stressful for your pet.

-Use suitable toothpaste with a favorable flavor as meat-flavored toothpaste for example.

-Never use human toothpaste as it's toxic to pet animals.

3- Chewing 

Another one of the important pet animal health facts is chewing, chewing helps to relieve the pain of teething for small pets, but for adult pets; it helps to make their teeth stronger, cleans their teeth, helps to release endorphins which heighten the sense of pleasure and wellbeing, and massage the gum. You can supply your pet with hard toys to help him to chew and satisfy its natural desire to chew. 

4- Diet 

Diet also is one of the very effective pet dental health facts but how? 

I will tell you.  Eating dry food can help in keeping the pet animals' teeth clean and reduces the formation of, Unlike soft food which adheres to teeth and leads to invasion of bacteria and plaque.

Pet dental health facts | Why should we care about it? 

Care of pet dental health is very important as it helps to : 

-Prevent pain as pet animals are "stoic" and hide their pain 

- Prevent organ damage as lung, kidney, and liver 

- Prevent infection and tooth loss

-  Prevent bad breath 

-Prevent the formation of plaque and tartar which destroy structures that support the teeth.

Pet dental health facts and diseases 

Pet dental diseases overview

Periodontal diseases are the most common diseases in pet animals, small dogs are likely to develop dental diseases, as their teeth are small in relation to their mouths.  For adult pets, Pets that are at high risk to develop periodontal diseases are dogs, cats, and senior pets. Periodontal disease is an infection caused by bacteria due to neglecting cleaning of pet animal oral cavities, these bacteria secrete endotoxins that invade the bloodstream and cause organ damage to the liver, kidney, and lungs.

Periodontal diseases occur by food debris trapped in between teeth, by the time with lack of pet oral hygiene and ignorance of important pet dental health facts, bacteria form and lead to serious dental diseases. Pet dental diseases pass by several stages, we will discuss them below :

1-Plaque: It can be formed by bacteria that attach to minerals and saliva of pet animals which make the plaque hard then this hard convert into hard tartar.

2-Gingivitis: it's an inflammation of the gum, it forms when the hard tartar invades the gum.

3-Periodontitis: it's an inflammation that occurs when bacteria secretes toxins that cause further tissue damage, loss of surrounding tissue of teeth which act as a support for the teeth. It ends with tooth loss and tooth root abscess.

4-Loss of teeth: It's the end stage of periodontal disease as deep attachments of the teeth were lost.

Signs of pet dental diseases:

To protect your pet animal from dental diseases and their complications, you should be careful of their signs. Signs of dental disease include : 

-Irritability and lethargy 

-Bad breath 

-Red or inflamed gums 

-Loss of appetite 

-Pawing at mouth 

-Browned teeth 

-Swelling under one eye

-Drooling

-Pain, although dogs often hide their pain. 

Summary

We can say that pet dental health facts are very important to be known as optimum pet dental health care helps pet animals to live 20 % longer, ensures a good quality of life for them, and protects them from serious dental diseases and teeth loss. 
Written By/ Dr. Shaimaa Fathy