Good Dental Hygiene is Vital Like us, pets can suffer the effects of poor oral hygiene. The good news is that an effective oral health regime will extend the life of a pet and there’s a raft of products designed to help owners and groomers achieve this:
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he adverse effects of periodontal disease are due in part to the toxins the bacteria secrete and the damage these toxins cause to delicate kidney, cardiac, and brain tissue. In addition, many veterinarians believe that actual bacterial colonies can spread via the circulation and set up housekeeping within the animal’s tissues, commonly in the heart valve areas, kidneys and liver. Far better than extracting teeth, performing gingival flaps, filling erosions or doing root canal procedures, would be to prevent the health damaging periodontal disease in the first place. Since most dogs presented with advanced periodontitis are older canines, owner concern regarding the safety of dental procedures always seems to be an impediment to performing dental procedures, especially since anaesthesia is an important aspect of a thorough dental cleaning. But it is important
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Preventing the onset of health damaging periodontal disease is the best scenario.
to consider the benefits of the treatment offset against what is generally a low risk of using anaesthetic on an older dog.
Prevention One of the best ways to insure optimum oral health is to provide the dog with a well-balanced, meat-based dog food. Meat assists in keeping the mouth environment healthy. Actively encouraging the dog to utilize chew treats that require some “exercising” of the teeth, such as is provided by
