Pet Dental Care
Give your furry companions a brighter, healthier smile at Vetcare Limited, where our service includes comprehensive pet dental care for greater well-being and a greater quality of life.
Pet Dental Care in Leigh, Hindley, and Bolton
Oral health is a cornerstone of your pet’s overall health. Dental issues, if left untreated, can lead to more serious problems, including infections that affect the heart, kidneys, and liver. Common signs of dental issues in pets include bad breath, difficulty eating, swollen gums, and excessive drooling. Regular dental check-ups can help identify these problems early, preventing discomfort and further complications.
Pet Dental Care
Poor oral health and dental disease are some of the most common diagnoses we make in dogs, cats, and rabbits.
Proper veterinary dentistry is misunderstood by many owners and is far more than just having a ’scale and polish’. From an owner’s perspective, you may only have noticed halitosis (smelly breath) or seen some tartar on the teeth. The story is completely different from our side of the consulting room table. The commonest cause of death in humans 100 years ago was dental disease, and the same probably applied to our pets. Plaque builds up on teeth, bacteria help it to form into tartar, the infection spreads under the gum line, and from infected gums and tooth structures, we can get infection in the bloodstream, continuously challenging the immune system and seeding into major organs.
The truth is that once your pet comes in for dental work, what we are doing is a COMPLETE ORAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT. This includes a consultation to establish whether there has been any oral pain, or problems eating and to perform a general health examination. We may also ask what, if anything, you do to look after your pet’s teeth.
We will examine the facial and oral structures including the eyes, assess the calculus and plaque build-up, examine each tooth, and look at the level of periodontal disease present (gingivitis and so on). Under anaesthesia (essential for proper dental examination and work in animals), we will do a detailed oral examination, including probing under the gum line and looking at all the soft tissues in the mouth as well as the teeth.
For many dental procedures, X-rays are essential. We have a modern digital imaging suite including dental radiography machines. This is essential if we need to examine the 70% of the tooth that lives below the gum as well as to ensure we have carried out any extractions properly, to investigate cats for RESORBTIVE LESIONS (which they get commonly and can be painful), and to investigate abnormal swellings. Nowadays, most modern vets will routinely recommend dental radiography if they think it is warranted.
It is only then we get into treatment with disinfection, nerve blocks (if required), removing large clods of tartar, Ultrasonic scaling, cleaning under the gum line, any surgery or extractions required, teeth polishing, and dental record chart completion. We usually arrange post-operative checks and then FREE dental checks at intervals. It is important after dental treatment that you as the owner do your best to try to keep your pet’s mouth and teeth in tip-top condition.
Our nurses run a FREE DENTAL CLUB (which, incidentally, is great to bring the kids to as well) where we can discuss dental hygiene measures, demonstrate tooth brushing, and discuss all the options open to you to try to ensure your pet doesn’t need to come in for surgical dentistry again.
Have you checked your pet’s mouth today? If it’s been a while, schedule their appointment for expert dental care at Vetcare Limited today.
Veterinary Services in Leigh, Bolton and Hindley
Pet Vaccinations
Pet Health Care Plan
Pet Parasites
Pet Radiology
Pet US Scan
Pet Dental Care
Pet Neutering
Nurse Clubs