02 Feb At Your Pet Dentist, Every Month Is Dental Health Month!
At Your Pet Dentist, every month is Dental Health Month! Here is why we do not directly promote February as Dental Health Month
Ask any veterinarian, veterinary staff member, or even long-time pet owners—the idea of preventative oral health care in veterinarian medicine was almost unheard of 10-20 years ago. Even today, sadly the amount of dental health education and training veterinarians receive is minimal compared to other medical and surgical topics. Perhaps this is why so many who specialize in dentistry and oral surgery do so later in their careers. That, however, is a different topic for another day.
The idea of Dental Health Month was created to help educate clients about the importance of oral care for their 4-legged family members. Fortunately, the staff and doctors at Your Pet Dentist have long believed in the power of treating oral health conditions along with preventative dental healthcare.
The Importance of Regular Dental Care for Pets
Did you know that by the age of 2 or 3 years, up to 75% of dogs have some degree of periodontal disease? This means that if we wait for all that calculus (hard cemented tartar) to form before we act on their oral health, we are WAY behind in the game. Even more so, small dogs’ dental disease progresses much faster and may even be extremely advanced in nature by the time a pet is 2 or 3 years old. Early assessments and preventative dental health are the only way to:
- Ensure that your pet is free of pain and infection
- Help delay the advancement of disease to the point that extractions (surgical removal of the teeth) are the only option.
Dental evaluations should include scaling (cleaning) and polishing, intra-oral radiographs (dental x-rays), and designated treatment plans as a minimum. Unfortunately, it is impossible to adequately perform these tasks without general anesthesia in our veterinary patients. Although the general consensus is to perform these cleanings and evaluations annually, some pets may benefit from semi-annual cleanings just as some pets may be able to stretch those evaluations slightly longer than every 12 months.
Schedule Your Pet’s Annual Checkup
An annual dental health month not only helps to reiterate the importance of these therapies, but also makes it easy for annual scheduling. The team at Your Pet Dentist of Nashville feels so passionate about oral and dental health that we made this a priority for us all day, every day!!
If your pet has not yet had personalized oral health evaluations or you believe your pet may have evidence of dental disease, we can help! Feel free to reach out to us at any point with questions or concerns, or to schedule a consultation!
Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (2/2/2024). Photo by Alvan Nee on Unsplash