Why Is Dental Care Important For My Cat?

Proper dental care will help prevent your pet from developing a wide range of dental health problems, like periodontal disease, which is caused by the accumulation of bacteria in your mouth.
Your veterinarian will also help manage and track any dental health issues your cat has going forward, which can help to prolong the lifespan of your cat, too. By keeping up with dental cleanings for your cats early on, and sticking with them on a regular schedule, you can help your pet battle tooth disease for the rest of his or her life. The earlier you are able to properly address the needs of your cats dental health, the less likely they are to get chronic illness or damage as a result of these problems.
Establishing a good routine of dental care for your cat From a young age, it is critical to your cats continued health and happiness. By tracking and regularly cleaning your cats teeth, you can catch any oral health problems early on, and avoid having your cat suffer from pain and require costly treatments. If your cat has already been diagnosed with a dental health problem, chances are good that your vet would recommend teeth cleaning as one of the first steps in treating the problem.

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If your cat has suffered from an injury in his mouth, a tooth loss, or significant decay, your vet will give you recommendations for dental care or surgery to address the cats dental health conditions. A consultation with our veterinarian team will make recommendations to put your pet on a course toward a healthier mouth. Your veterinarian will provide recommendations based on the general health of your pet and your pets teeth and will give you options to consider.
Your vet also can recommend and supply you with various products to keep your cats teeth and gums in top condition, as well as provide an annual professional cleaning to prevent dental disease from setting in.
Taking care of your cats teeth at home with brushing, chewing, treats, and rinsing is the first step to slowing down dental disease. At-home dental care, like brushing your cats teeth every day, decreases your cats chances of developing periodontal disease.
Vets frequently recommend special diets for dental diseases in cats, which can help slow the growth of bacteria and plaque. To help promote good oral health, we recommend mixing dental-care food with a cats regular meals.
If your cat has bad breath frequently, a dental cleaning may help. Bad breath is the one symptom of a dental issue you are at all likely to see with your cat.
If your cat has visible bad breath, you should schedule a dental examination with your veterinarian. Regardless of signs or symptoms, your cat should receive at least one dental checkup every year.
Once gingivitis has developed, anesthesia-assisted dental cleaning is needed to return your cats mouth to good health. Even if your cat has only a slight accumulation of tartar or no tartar, but has visible gingivitis, dental cleanings under anesthesia are generally needed to help return your cats gums and teeth to good health before the disease progresses to the next stage, when roots may be affected and require treatment. In fact, since periodontal disease slowly progresses beneath the gums, even when teeth look white, it can only be prevented and identified with routine dental cleanings performed by your veterinarian, which is why they are highly recommended.
The good news is most cases of periodontal disease in cats can be avoided with some preventative measures taken to ensure the dental health of your pet.
Periodontal disease is the most common dental disease found in dogs and cats: By the time your pet is 3, it is likely to have some early evidence of periodontal disease, which will get worse as your pet gets older unless effective preventive measures are taken. Neglecting dental diseases ultimately leads to serious health problems, such as periodontal disease (weakening and weakening of teeth from infections), tooth abscesses, and halitosis (bad breath). A malnourished time in a cats life can also lead to bad dental health, even if your cat is living a great life right now.
For a proper dental assessment and treatment, your cat should be placed under safe, general anesthesia. To help ensure that your cats mouth remains healthy and pain-free, our veterinarians recommend making annual professional dental work part of your cats preventative health care regimen.
Cat teeth cleanings can help to treat gum disease and tooth decay in your cat, but it also may lower the risk that these problems will occur in the first place. Typically, cats need dental cleanings once they are 2 or 3 years old -- and this is called a prophylaxis, meaning that it will prevent or delay the onset of disease, as long as it is done before the disease occurs. We are here to help pet owners understand the need for adequate dental care, and provide the necessary information for providing this to their cats and dogs.