Dental Awarness

Periodontal disease is the number one health problem in companion animals over seven years of age. Many factors contribute to this problem including diet, age, genetics, conformation, and general overall health. As a rule, animals that eat soft food tend to have more periodontal disease problems than animals that eat the hard type of food. Older animals have more problems than younger animals. Some animals seem to be predisposed to periodontal disease, especially in pure breed dogs and cats. Animals with crowded teeth and especially small breed dogs have more problems with periodontal disease than large breed dogs or those dogs with lots of room between their teeth. Animals with other problems, such as diabetic animals, may have more periodontal disease problems than animals that are otherwise healthy. The clinical signs of periodontal disease includes red gums, foul mouth odor, difficulty chewing (from oral pain), moderate to heavy dental calculus (tarter), and tooth loss. In small breed dogs advanced periodontal disease will cause the jaw to break because of bone loss from the disease. Besides the obvious oral problems periodontal disease may contribute to other health problems such as heart disease and kidney disease. The best treatment for periodontal disease is prevention. Companion animals with crowded teeth should have them removed early in life. Proper diets should be fed that includes hard "biscuits" and is nutritionally balanced. Clearly bones or other extremely hard objects should not be given to dogs or cats otherwise there is a great risk of breaking teeth. Oral maintenance (tooth brushing) should be started early in life BEFORE periodontal disease has a chance to start. And finally, companion animals should have their first dental prophylaxis (teeth cleaning) by three years of age. The more advanced the periodontal disease the greater the risk of complications and tooth loss. Just like with people, these problems can be prevented. 

We are pleased to offer dental prophylaxis as a part of your pets routine preventative maintance program.  Contact us at (989)362-5711 to schedule an evaluation.  Your pet will thank you

"It doesn't seem to bother him so I haven't done anything about it" is a common response from pet owners when asked about their pets oral pathology. However, most pathologic problems have pain associated with it and must be addressed. Understanding how, why, and the type of oral pain animals have will help the veterinarian better deal with this problem.
Pain responses can be divided into several categories: a) major
b) minor
c) masked

Major pain is obvious. Mandibular and maxillary fractures following acute trauma are generally presented with the animals vocalizing, defensive, and salivating. As with other skeletal fractures pain control is essential when stabilizing and repairing these cases. Soft tissue injury can be very painful following chemical or electrical injury. Acute pulpal exposure is another source of major pain that persists for hours to days then becomes masked. This will be discussed next.

Minor pain is a relative term. What seems painful to one animal may be masked and endured by another. The pain is present but may require certain events for it to be manifested. An excellent example is apical disease. This is normally a result of endodontic disease usually from a broken tooth with pulpal exposure. The classic case is a broken upper fourth premolar in a canine. This happens when the dog bites down on a hard object between both carnassial teeth. The mesial cusp of the upper tooth is sheared off exposing the interior pulpal horn. This obviously causes acute pain. The problem is the acute pain subsides in hours to days and becomes masked by the animal. The acute pain subsides because the exposed pulp becomes necrotic and the nerve endings become nonfunctional. Unfortunately, the condition will remain painful for the animal as the inflammation proceeds from the exposed pulp in the cusp to the alveolar bone in the periradicular area. During this phase the animal typically eats, plays and otherwise acts normal. Close observation will reveal the dog avoiding use of the broken tooth and using the healthy areas of its mouth to prehend and eat. The tooth will be sensitive to cold and heat and will bleed through the cusp if the pulp is probed. This testing is not to be done in an awake animal. As the inflammation reaches the apex and periradicular areas the tooth becomes pressure sensitive. At rest the animal is asymptomatic. When loading forces are placed on the tooth it becomes compressed into the alveolus and pain is evoked. This causes the animal not to use the tooth. In time excess plaque and calculus build up on the broken tooth resulting in asymmetry from one side of the mouth to the other. This is almost pathognomonic for local oral pain.

Obviously individual pain thresholds vary. Some animals appear stoic with massive injuries and others scream in pain at the thought of a toe nail trim.

Masked pain is the type most deceiving to owners and veterinarians. Dogs are pack animals. It has always been in their best interest to hide pain in the pack for fear of displacement in their social standing. Today the family unit is the pack but the evolutionary behavior persists. Also, animals that exhibited pain were consumed by predators because of appearing disabled. Minor pain is easy for animals to mask and since they can't talk to us its easy to overlook this problem. The same principles apply to cats although the species behavior tends to be more territorial than pack.

Another facet to the phenomena of masked pain is species survival. For the most part most animals are able to mask and endure their pain through several reproductive cycles. Acute abscesses from endodontic disease take at least six months to a years to become obvious in the canine species thus ensuring at least one reproductive cycle to occur. Other species experience the same delayed manifistation of acute disease. Obviously species survival is a very strong influence on oral pain.

Ultimately most oral inflammatory conditions (both hard tissue and soft tissue) become acute and pain becomes major. The pain has always been present, masked or minor but now its obvious. Early intervention will prevent the animals from living with a painful condition for prolonged periods of time.

By: Ben Colmery III DVM