Facilities : Dentistry for Dogs & Cats

At Blackness vets we believe that the health of your pet's teeth plays a very important part in the overall wellbeing of your pet.

Tartar build up on teeth is unfortunately very common in both dogs and cats, this leads to gum disease which can lead to fracture or loss of teeth or even allow bacteria to spread to other organs such as the heart or kidneys.

Please follow this click for information about rabbit dental problems and how we may be able to help.

How do I know if my pet needs a dental?

Your pet will receive a dental check up at his yearly booster, or you can ask for an appointment if you are concerned about your pet's ability to eat, the smelliness or his breath or any damage you may have noticed to his teeth.

It is usually possible to get a rough idea of the health of your pet's teeth during a consultation.

For a more detailed examination and for any treatment such as scale and polish or extractions a full general anaesthetic is necessary.

This will allow the vet to examine the entire dental arcade, the tongue, gums and palate in a safe and thorough fashion.

It may not be possible to determine the number of extractions necessary until this examination takes place, and in many cases not until the tartar has been removed.

What happens during a dental procedure?

For general information about admissions on the day of the procedure see "My pet is having an op".

When your pet has his general anaesthetic there will be a tube passed into his airway to supply oxygen and anaesthetic agent and to prevent water from the dental procedure from being aspirated into the lungs.

A vet will examine the teeth with specialised dental equipment, just like your dentist uses, and determine which teeth require extractions and which will just need scale and polishing.

We are happy to be able to offer prophylactic dentistry with our state of the art dental machine.

This allows us to ultrasonically scale your pet's teeth removing the tartar build up which promotes gum disease and ill health.

We will always polish your pet's teeth after scaling as not to do so would encourage more rapid build up of tartar.

If any teeth need extracting the vet will use a combination of the high speed dental drill and specialised dental elevators and luxators.

A record will be made on a dental chart by our nurses of any extractions, as well as of teeth that may have already been missing before the procedure started, you will receive a copy of this chart when your pet is discharged.

If there have been any extractions your pet will receive an anti-inflammatory pain killer injection which may be followed up by tablets at home.

What happens afterwards?

When your pet is discharged after his dental a nurse will go through what procedures have taken place, your pet's dental chart and what to expect when you get home in the way of feeding.

You may receive a course of antibiotics for your pet if there have been a lot of extractions of if we feel there has been significant gum disease.

In some cases you may be asked to make an appointment with a vet for a check up a few days after the dental procedure.

The nurse may also advise on future dental hygiene care such as brushing teeth, or you may wish to make a separate appointment with a nurse or vet to discuss this further.

We have a range of dental hygiene products and our vets or nurses would be happy to demonstrate a tooth cleaning technique you can build up to at home.

Click here to go to our advice on dental care and to learn about why we are introducing DENTAGEN a novel protection against plaque.

Services : Dental Check ups

In the UK, 87% of dogs and 70% of cats over the age of three are affected by periodontal disease. Periodontal (or gum disease) is caused mainly in animals by a build up of plaque.

This leads to infection of the gum, weakening of the tooth ligament which results in smelly breath, pain due to loose or decaying teeth and infection spreading to other parts of the body.

Your pet's teeth will be checked at his annual vaccinations but if you suspect a problem in between times you can make an appointment for a dental check up.

You may have noticed a problem eating, or a swelling over the face or a funny smell from the mouth area. A vet will examine your pets mouth and assess the degree of tartar build-up or gingivitis (gum infection).

We may recommend simply a course of antibiotics if we feel it is mainly an infection problem or advise further dentistry.

Our nursing staff is trained to give you help and advice about the how to introduce dental care from an early age and can discuss what is best for your pet.

We are now also introducing DENTAGEN. Dentagen is a novel approach to dental plaque inhibition. It contains a natural anti-plaque compound derived from plant extracts which prevents oral bacteria from producing plaque.

Dentagen is available in 2 formulations:

• Chews for dogs, which are highly palatable and suitable to be given every other day. These chews also have been especially designed to mechanically clean right to the gum line.
• Dentagen Aqua for dogs and cats which is a palatable drinking water additive.

Dentagen also comes as a wax which is designed to get applied immediately after a dental procedure (eg scale and polish) in the surgery.

This provides protection immediately and levels of the anti-plaque compound are maintained with the use of the above home care products.

If your pet has dental treatment at our surgery you will be offered the chance to have Dentagen applied and for follow up home treatment.

We also stock a variety of toothbrushes and pastes for a more traditional approach to dental care and we can give help and advice on the best way to go about initiating a tooth brushing routine.