Pet Me! Magazine™ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015
Passion in
By Vanessa Vandersande DVM
P
et dental health is a passion of mine. I was fortunate to study under one of the East Coast’s prominent board certified veterinary dentists and ever since have been amazed by the many and varied repercussions of good dental health. I have had cats with bad teeth promptly gain as much as a pound after successfully clearing up their dental disease. After a canine dental cleaning, I have had a client tell me that her elderly dog started wagging its tail again after three years of no tail wagging. I had a patient who kept walking backwards and no one could figure out why; after some bad teeth were removed, it stopped walking backward. The level of pain that animals suffer without showing any obvious symptoms is astounding and nothing makes me happier than when clients come in for their pet’s dental recheck with a story of newfound happiness, improved appetite, and increased vigor. These stories have cemented my passion for high quality dentistry. Signs of dental disease can widely vary and there are differences among species. Some obvious signs are: bad breath, swelling of the cheeks, tooth grinding or broken teeth. More
DOGONE-IT!
PET SITTING – Your House or Mine Sl l Sleepovers welcome No Crates ~ Just Cuddles
Marlee (661) 251-3873 Dogone-it@hotmail.com
20 Pet Me! Magazine™
frequently the signs are so subtle you would never notice them. A slow weight loss over many months, drooling, slightly crabby behavior, or change in the pet’s usual routine are much more frequent presentations. These changes may be easily overlooked by owners, but our weapon in this fight is your pet’s annual exam. When we examine your pet’s teeth every year, we are carefully looking for signs of disease to determine the need for a cleaning. Once blood work and heart health have been cleared, we schedule the dental. The pet will have an IV catheter placed for fluid support and sensors to monitor heart rhythm and oxygen levels. Once the pet is under anesthesia, a complete set of dental X-rays are taken. This is one of the most important parts of the dental procedure. It is impossible to evaluate the roots of the teeth without X-rays, and the roots are important since they are the attachment point of the tooth to the skull. We look for signs of bone loss around the roots, cracks or holes in the teeth themselves, or sometimes roots that remain be-