The Teeth Cleaning Process
Our veterinary team regularly performs professional teeth cleanings on dogs and cats. Cleanings at our hospital are recommended to maintain your pet’s smile and keep their mouth bacteria-free as much as possible. This process involves several steps:
- To clean your pet’s teeth safely and thoroughly, they must be placed under anesthesia. Before anesthesia, we examine your pet to make sure they’re healthy.
- Once sedated, we can perform a full assessment of your pet’s teeth and gums. This includes checking for signs of dental disease.
- If needed, we can perform tooth extractions to remove any loose, damaged, and/or decaying teeth.
- When we clean the teeth, we start by scaling to remove tough calculus buildup above and below the gum line.
- After scaling, the teeth are polished smooth to ensure that food debris can’t cling to them easily.
- Any remaining debris (plaque/tartar or calculus) in the mouth is rinsed away.
At-Home Dental Care Recommended for Your Pet
It’s important to start brushing your pet’s teeth when they’re young, so they can get accustomed to it more quickly. Daily teeth brushing is an excellent way to reduce plaque and tartar buildup, and it can extend the length of time between teeth cleanings at the vet. Regular professional teeth cleanings are still essential to your pet’s health, however, because they target areas of the teeth that are impossible to reach with just brushing.
Most of the tooth is situated below the gum line, where plaque, tartar, and infectious bacteria can accumulate unnoticed. And just because you can’t see a problem, doesn’t mean it’s not there!
Reach out to the Pet Care Center of Apopka at (407) 884-8924 to find out more or request an appointment!