The teeth and gums are part of the digestive system. Lack of care can lead to far reaching disease in other parts of the body. Sinusitis, heart disease, kidney disease, and respiratory disease are a few examples of disease that can be traced back to a diseased mouth. We recommend that your pet get its teeth examined once a year. It is very likely that a professional scaling and polishing will be recommended once your pet reaches the age of two or three years of age. Simply put: If you take care of the teeth and gums your pet has, your pet will live longer. If you do not pay attention to the mouth of your pet, your pet may acquire systemic disease because of diseased gums, and die an early death. Systemic disease can include kidney, liver, lung, heart, sinus, and gastrointestinal disease to name a few.

Did you know that about 75% of all dental problems serious enough to be seen by a veterinarian and almost all teeth lost in adult dogs and cats are a result of periodontal disease? It is associated with 95% of all cases of bad breath. It can also be associated with loss of appetite, diarrhea, vomiting, coughing, heart disease, kidney disease, and just plain irritability.

You can do your own home examination to determine if your pet needs a dental cleaning:

    1. Check the teeth your pet has by lifting up the upper lip and look at the teeth.

    2. If the teeth have brownish discoloration near the gum line, or if the gums are red above the teeth, or if your pet has bad breath, make an appointment to have a dental examination and confirm that your pet needs a dental prophy.

    3. If a tooth looks like it is broken, check the other side of the mouth and see if the opposite tooth looks different. If the tooth appears broken, seek out professional veterinary help for evaluation.

At PVH, we can clean your pet's teeth, repair fractured or broken teeth, perform root canals, treat apical abscess, periodontal or gum disease and can treat many more dental diseases your pet may encounter.

We recommend that your pet should be examined for dental disease at least once per year. If your pet is prone to disease, than the examination should be performed more often.