Pains of Periodontal Disease: How Inadequate Dental Care Hurts Your Pet's Mouth, Mind, and Body
You'll be surprised to learn about the toll it takes on you too
Periodontal disease — the most common disease in the mouth of pets and one that we often overlook until it’s far too late.
Dental disease can be an insidious, sickening, debilitating disease. Many owners may not be aware that their animal has the disease at all, but the reality is, that nearly every animal over age 3 does (unless they just had their teeth professionally cleaned). One of the reasons it progresses undetected is because the majority of the disease lives below the gumline, where you can’t see it.
By the time you see significant buildup on their teeth, there’s far more disease present than what meets the eye.
While regular professional dental cleaning is necessary, it’s not nearly enough to keep our pets healthy. Without daily dental care at home, the disease will inevitably progress and have significant long-term consequences for your pet. I recently wrote a piece about implementing a daily dental care routine at home.
Let’s now take a look at what happens when we don’t take care of our pet’s teeth every day.
Things you may notice at home (signs of periodontal disease):
Bad breath
Tartar buildup, red and swollen gums
The bulge of the crown or the roots of the tooth are visible (these should always be covered by gum and bone)
Ulcers in the mouth
Flinching or pulling away when you try to look at the teeth
Growling or hissing due to pain
Open wounds under the eye, through the jaw, or in the mouth
Suddenly very congested or stuffy, because the disease has created a hole through the roof of the mouth and entered the nasal cavity
Rubbing face on carpet or furniture
Sleeping a lot, reduced activity, poor appetite (especially with hard food/kibble), dropping food or treats
In addition to periodontal disease (and usually before advanced disease sets in), some pets may develop a painful immune-mediated ulcerative inflammatory disease in response to the bacteria in their mouth.
This is especially common in cats. In these cases, unfortunately, full-mouth dental extractions are usually necessary, leaving your young cat looking like a gummy grandma.
If you see any of the signs above, your pet needs a dental exam as soon as possible.
The stages of periodontal disease
As I’m sure you can already see, periodontal disease is a nauseating, painful, debilitating disease.
There are 5 stages of periodontal disease, beginning with stage 0, where there is only mild tartar buildup and gingivitis has not set in yet.
Stage 1: gingivitis
You may not notice any changes in your pet’s behavior, but by the time disease reaches stage 1, they are already in pain.
Gingivitis has set in and the gums are red, inflamed, and painful. Dental x-rays don’t show any bone loss yet. By the time the disease reaches this stage, a professional cleaning under anesthesia is already advised.
Stage 2: mild periodontitis
Progressive swelling of the gums and the disease is starting to eat away at the bone beneath the surface (<25% bone loss at this stage).
This results in loss of support for the tooth. This dog needs a professional dental cleaning under anesthesia ASAP. If we’re quick to intervene at this stage, we may be able to save the tooth.
Stage 3: moderate periodontitis
Significant bone loss (25-50% of attachment to the tooth) requiring periodontal intervention by a specialist ASAP.
Periodontal cleaning under anesthesia is necessary. With serious commitment by the owner and the close guidance of a veterinary dental specialist, it is possible for the tooth to be saved, but most likely the tooth will need to be extracted. The bone that is lost and the extracted tooth will never grow back.
Stage 4: advanced periodontitis
Severe bone loss (>50% of attachment to the tooth), gingival recession, multiple extractions necessary, additional surgical procedure including removal of bone likely necessary.
As you can see, even in the very early stages of the disease where there perhaps isn’t even much plaque visible, a professional cleaning under anesthesia is necessary to treat the disease and prevent it from advancing.
Professional dental cleaning under anesthesia
If dental care isn’t performed at home every day, a professional cleaning under anesthesia will need to be performed every 1-3 years.
As your pet ages, their anesthetic risk rises. Depending on their age and health status, there are a number of tests that will need to be performed before the dental procedure. These include, at least:
Full bloodwork to ensure your pet is in systemic health and can handle the anesthesia
An echocardiogram of their heart, if an abnormal heart sound or rhythm are heard on exam
At this point, you’ve lost hundreds (potentially over a thousand) on tests and procedures, and your pet has lost a bunch of teeth. Toothpaste, by comparison, costs less than 10 bucks. Prevention is cheaper than treatment, people. It always is.
Dental disease’s downstream effects
Beyond the innate pain and nauseating feeling that dental disease causes your pet, it also sets them up for a number of infections and diseases elsewhere in the body.
An important example is when the bacteria in the mouth travel to the heart and cause an infection of the heart valves (endocarditis) — these cases are very serious and life-threatening.
Research shows that pets with daily dental care live on average 2-5 years longer than their counterparts. Not to mention that the quality of life enjoyed by your pet during those years will be substantially better.
Beyond the physical detriment of dental disease, it also diminishes the human-animal bond.
Everyone knows that one dog or cat with absolutely rancid breath. You almost can’t stand to be near them because of the foul smell radiating from their mouth. When they lick you, you want to vomit.
If their mouth is preventing you from getting close to them, your pet is emotionally suffering from their disease too (as are you).
—
When I think about the animals suffering from dental disease, every thing they have to go through as the disease advances, and the physical and emotional toll it takes on pets and owners alike — I just think to myself, is it really worth it?
Is it worth it, when all we have to do to prevent it is spend a few seconds each day brushing? It’s something we can all do a better job of (myself included).
Every cat. Every dog. Every day. No excuses.
Dr. Sami
For further guidance on pet dental care, see my article on implementing a dental care routine and my list of must-have pet dental care products.
Doc goes for humans,also. Thanks.🙂
Ouch! Poor pups!
Forwarding! 🩵