Both dogs and cat become highly vulnerable to periodontal disease, especially once they are three years old. Dog dental disease is known to inflict serious pain along with other symptoms like bad breath, bleeding gums, ropey saliva etc. If you fail to offer immediate attention to your pooch, you will definitely end up wasting a lot of time and money for the pertinent cure. Most of the pet parents wonder how often they have to take their pooch to a dentist. The best possible means to take care of your dog’s teeth is to keep a close eye on his oral hygiene and maintaining it.
Even though you ensure good oral hygiene for your pooch, most of the experts advocate that it is better to take your dog to pet dental clinic every six months.
Complications related to dog Periodontal Disease
Dog periodontal disease is not always associated with pain, but also some other symptoms like inflammation, which might seem really mild from the outset, but can inflict some serious damage in the latter stage. Gum inflammation in dogs is a symptom that is easily curable by cleaning. However, the elevated stages of gum inflammation creates a pocket-like cavity between the gums and the tooth and the subsequent stage, which is considered as the worst one, leads to bone loss. In cases where the bone loss is more than 50%, teeth extraction might be the only option. We even have had cases where unchecked dog gum inflammation has put the respective pooch in a higher risk of liver disease and kidney failure. As per the experts, such conditions can also exert more pressure on the dog’s heart.
Dog dental care procedures
Most of the symptoms associated with dog periodontal diseases are hard to detect, especially for those pet parents who work around the clock. This is why it is highly recommended to take your dog to a pet dental clinic at least twice a year. Detailed oral exam with dental X-ray is inevitable when it comes to getting a clear picture of the oral hygiene of your dog, especially when it comes to examining the pertinent condition beneath the gum line.
Some tips to maintain dog oral hygiene
It is ideal to follow the strategies listed below to prevent gum or dental disease in dogs:
- Brush your dog’s teeth every day: Plaque can accumulate in your dog’s teeth every 12 hours, therefore, brushing your dog’s teeth daily can help you to keep plaque accumulation in check.
- Give your dog a quality diet: today, we have food for dogs that can work its way around and create a brushing/cleansing effect on the dog’s teeth. Consult a veterinarian to get recommendations of quality diet that suit your dog.
- Encourage your dog to chew daily: chewing daily helps to get rid off plaques in addition to creating and spreading of protective saliva around your dog’s teeth.
Not all the teeth of your dog are affected by any dental disease at the same time; therefore, you might need to get your dog signed up for an oral exam to identify the areas that need treatment.