Dentistry

Hancock Animal Hospital offers full routine dental services. We will evaluate your pet's dental condition and recommend the best course of action. 

Dental disease is a serious and under-treated condition in many dogs and cats. Dental disease is a crucial component of your pet's health care and can lead to severe cardiac, renal disease and pain. 

Many pets just need a full dental cleaning and then proper home management after the cleaning. Some animals have broken teeth or an abscess around the tooth root and need to have extractions (pulling out teeth). Extractions are very important if the tooth (teeth) is damaged or the dental disease has led to teeth/bone resorption. Most dogs and cats do extremely well after their dental procedure and feel much better once their teeth are cleaned and any damaged teeth removed. It is extremely important to start on proper DENTAL HOME CARE after the dental cleaning. Hancock Animal Hospital provides a dental-care kit for all patients undergoing a dental cleaning and will go over the proper use to help prevent future dental disease. 

Dogs and cats start on antibiotics prior to the dental procedure and continue on antibiotics for a few days after the dental. This is due to the significant amount of bacteria in the mouth and to prevent any damage to their vital organs. Pets over the age of 4-5 need to have pre-anesthetic bloodwork performed prior to the procedure. This is to evaluate their internal organ function and to assist with determining their anesthetic risk and the type of anesthetic drugs to use. 

All patients (dogs and cats) undergoing a dental cleaning will have an intravenous (IV) catheter, be on IV-fluids, Intubated and on Isoflo/Oxygen anesthesia. While under anesthesia an assistant constantly monitors their vitals and overall condition, utilizing an ECG, Pulse-Oximeter, and esophageal stethoscope.

General Dental Information for Dogs and Cats:

Dental Information for Dogs:

Puppies typically have 28 temporary teeth that come out at approximately three to four weeks of age. Most dogs have 42 permanent teeth that you can start to see around 4 months of age. 
Over 60% percent of dogs exhibit signs of gum disease that are over 3 years of age. In clinical practice, many dogs start showing dental problems by 1 year of age. Symptoms include yellow and brown build-up of tartar along the gums, tartar on the teeth, and red inflamed gums with persistent bad breath. 

Purpose of the teeth:
Incisors: cutting and grabbing food 
Canine teeth (Fangs): holding and tearing food 
Premolars: cutting, holding, and shearing food 
Molars: grinding food

Numbers of teeth
Many mammals, including dogs, cats, and ferrets are "diphyodont" meaning they have two sets of teeth, one set (called "deciduous" or “Puppy/Kitten”) being shed and replaced by a permanent set. Although the exact number can vary, puppies have approximately 28 deciduous (temporary) teeth, and adult dogs have 42 permanent teeth. Feline kittens have 26 deciduous teeth, and adult cats have 30 permanent teeth. Ferret kits have 30 deciduous teeth, with adults having 34.

Tooth eruption
In kittens and puppies, the baby (deciduous) teeth begin to erupt at about 3-4 weeks of age and the permanent teeth begin to come out around 3-4 months of age. By 24 weeks of age, most of the permanent teeth can be seen. 

Average Eruption times of Teeth in Dogs

Hancock Animal Hospital

Please come in or call to discuss dental disease in your pet and the best possible treatment options. 

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