Maintaining your pet’s dental health is often overlooked by many pet owners. Brushing your pet’s teeth at home can be challenging, leading some to skip it altogether. Unlike us, pets don’t have a nightly dental routine, which can result in tartar build-up. At Animal Crossing, we offer comprehensive veterinary dental care, from routine check-ups and cleanings to teeth extractions and treatment for more complex conditions. To ensure your pet’s mouth and teeth stay healthy, we recommend scheduling a dental check-up once a year.
Tarter
Tarter removal is a procedure in which we perform dental scaling. We use an ultrasonic power scaler, along with hand-held instruments to remove tarter. Not only is tarter found on the surface of the tooth, but above and below the gum line as well.
Extractions
Tooth extraction is a very common procedure that is done at Animal Crossing. We strive to keep as many teeth as possible in your baby’s mouth. Sometimes extracting a tooth is the only option to relive pain as well as ensure periodontal disease does not further advance. If a diseased tooth is not extracted, it can affect the surrounding tissue and neighboring teeth. Different treatment options are available if periodontal disease is caught early.
Anesthesia
Animal Crossing does require anesthesia for dental procedures. If your dog/cat is 5 years of age or older, we do require pre-surgical blood work. This is just to ensure that your fur baby will be able to handle the anesthesia during the procedure. Inside the mouth, we utilize anesthetic gel and local anesthetic injections to reduce pain. We closely monitor your pet the entire time they are under as well as after the entire procedure is done.
Catching dental problems in the early stages can greatly help your pet in the long run. Make an appointment if your pet experiences any of the following:
- Chronic bad breath
- Your pet shies away when you try to touch their mouth area
- Excessive drool
- Dropping food when eating
- Bleeding in your pet’s mouth
- Loss of appetite or weight loss
- Yellowish brown crust of tartar around the gum line
- Missing, loose or broken teeth