A good oral hygiene is vital for the health and well-being of your pet:
Did you know that 87% of dogs and cats over three years suffer from periodontal disease and 44% of these require specific treatment?
What is the periodontal disease?
It’s a progressive disease of the teeth and surrounding tissues that at a late stage becomes incurable:
First phase - forms a plaque, not visible on the surface of the tooth, formed by food debris and bacteria
Second phase - if the plaque is not removed (by daily brushing) is digested by salivary calcium, leading to tartar formation. Dental tartar is removed only through scaling performed by the veterinarian
Third phase - occurs gingival retraction with exposure of tooth root, causing tooth mobility
What are the consequences of periodontal disease?
• Progressive bad breath and excessive salivation
• Difficulty to feed due to pain during mastication
• Teeth loss
• Abscesses formation
• Infections in other organs: heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver can be infected by bacteria that goes into the bloodstream
Dental care
• Make regular visits to your veterinarian to monitor your pet's dental health
• Instill your pet at a very early age, the daily routine of tooth brushing
• Use a toothpaste specially formulated for a pet
• After brushing reward the animal with a game, walking, etc…
• Provide food and nutritional supplements (tooth bars) specially designed for this purpose
Scale your pet when the veterinarian recommends: if you delay the treatment, the sooner periodontal disease progresses to irreversible stages, such as tooth loses.
Avoid
• Considering normal the bad breath of your animal
• Once diagnosed, don’t treat the periodontal disease
• Give your pet bones to chew because there’s a high risk of constipation
