Dentistry

Dental disease is one of the most common diseases in cats and dogs seen at our practice. Not only is dental disease painful for your pet, but the increased bacteria in their mouth can be associated with other conditions such as kidney disease, heart disease, and liver disease. As many as eight in ten pets have dental disease!

How do I know if my pet has dental disease?
Watch out for:

  • smelly breath
  • drooling or dropping food from their mouth
  • a loss of appetite
  • weight loss

What does dentistry involve at Tom Price Vet Clinic?
Cats and dogs in Tom Price can rest easy knowing that we have their dental health as a top priority!

We can’t ask your pet to “open wide” – so dogs and cats with dental disease need a general anaesthetic to allow us to assess their teeth and clean thoroughly under the gum line. Severely diseased teeth are potentially very painful so we usually remove them to prevent future problems.

Call Tom Price Vet Clinic to arrange a dental checkup today: (08) 9189 1500

Teeth Cleaning

Whenever there is an excessive build-up of tartar or dental calculus on the teeth a pet will require a dental which is performed under an anaesthetic and teeth are ultrasonically cleaned and scaled.

An excessive build-up will often cause offensive smelly breath and severe inflammation of the gums. The gum inflammation can be seen as a bright red line at the junction of the gums and teeth, which leads to ulcers forming and the teeth loosening. Bacteria continue to build up in the mouth, until pus can be seen oozing from the gums whenever the area is pressed. Early detection will eliminate all these.

How often and when a pet requires a dental depends on the breed, metabolism, the dogs diet and the degree of preventative care administered by owners.

Small breed dogs usually require more dental care than larger breeds. Also, the short-muzzled (brachycephalic) breeds require more dental care than dogs with longer muzzles. In both cases dental crowding is one of the biggest issues affecting care of the dog’s teeth.