Girl, Brush Your Dog’s Teeth

Hot garbage. “Hot garbage” is the best description I have ever heard for a dog’s really diseased mouth resulting in bad breath. The medical term for bad breath is halitosis. 

Just like people, dogs build bacteria on their teeth. That build up can wreak havoc on the gums and make its way into the rest of the body. Bacteria running through the body causing problems is an entirely different blog, but we will tell you right here, it isn’t good.

Even with daily brushing of your dog's teeth, there will likely be a time when your veterinarian says, “It is time.” Remember Rafiki from the Lion King? Remember him saying, “It is time.” That is how dramatic your veterinarian’s words should be to you when they are telling you your pet needs their teeth cleaned. But, when your veterinarian says, “It is time…to clean your dog's teeth,” do you really know what that means? 

First, the process is incredibly similar to what happens when you go to your human dental appointments. The mouth is examined for anything worrisome around the teeth. Do the gums look normal? Does the tongue look normal? Does under the tongue look ok? Do the teeth sit together comfortably or are they crooked or crowded? That is all written down by your veterinarian. 

Then, scaling is performed to remove the hard plaque on the teeth. Think of a very small jack hammer working in a very precise fashion to remove concrete (in this case plaque that is just like concrete) from every surface of the tooth-top, bottom, front, back and between. Once the concrete is removed, the teeth can be seen for all of their beauty! Cue the music-The Circle Of Life!!! Giraffes can start fluting happy noises, the birds fly up and spread their beautiful plumage, the zebras bow down in respect to the veterinarian and their team who cleaned those teeth to pearly perfection! I mean those teeth are really beautiful and ready to really be evaluated even further.

By “really evaluated” I mean the teeth are examined not only visually and with probing, but each individual tooth is x-rayed. Yes, x-rays just like your dentist! Every single tooth! Did I mention that dogs have 42 teeth?! 

Once x-rays of all 42 teeth are done, the art of really good veterinary dentistry begins! Again, each and every tooth is individually probed and examined for any movement (think wiggly, loose teeth), abnormal color (think red, black, brown or yellow), pain (this one can be more difficult to assess) and so forth until a comprehensive plan for each individual tooth is made. 

Based on all of the information gathered (x-ray, position, color, shape and stability) about all of the teeth, your veterinarian determines which teeth are healthy and which teeth could be causing your fur baby a lot of pain and hot garbage breath. If a tooth is unhealthy, it is properly extracted. We will leave different types of teeth and the level of skill involved in removing those teeth to another discussion, but for now, think about the big molars in your mouth versus your little front teeth. There is a huge difference in the size of those teeth, right?! Right! Each tooth requires a different layer or level of skill to properly be extracted. 

Oh! Now is a really good time to share the overarching DIFFERENCE between your pet having a teeth cleaning and you having a teeth cleaning-it’s ANESTHESIA! 

My patient, your fur baby, isn’t going to sit still in a nice reclined chair while I x-ray all 42 teeth, scale all 42 teeth, probe all 42 teeth and polish all 42 teeth! My patients need to be under general anesthesia to safely and effectively do all of this work on all 42 teeth.

Now does the work involved to clean hot garbage breath seem more clear? To be very, very clear a dental cleaning should NOT wait until the mouth is so stinky it knocks your socks off. Every patient builds bacteria at a different rate. Follow your veterinarian’s recommendations to avoid bad breath. Garbage breath doesn’t have to exist!