February is National Pet Dental Health Month. 

Click here for more information!

 

WHY CHOOSE OXFORD VETERINARY DENTISTRY:

 

  • Dentistry has often been overlooked as the very important element  of proper veterinary care that it really is.  Animals now live longer due to improved nutrition, better preventative care, and advances in diagnosis and treatment of disease.  Good oral health care will further extent the length and improve  the quality of their lives. 

 

  • Dental care is an essential element of health care and often a source of unrecognized pain.  Approximately 85% of dogs and 75% of cats over the age of 3 have some form of periodontal disease.

 

  • The presence of dental disease and its severity varies with each individual animal and starts with the accumulation of plaque (the soft malodorous coating in teeth consisting of food and bacteria) and tartar/calculus (harden plaque).

 

  • As tartar and plaque accumulate the gingiva (edge of gums bordering the teeth) becomes inflamed, infected, and recedes with loosening of the connective tissue attaching the gums to the teeth/periodontal pocketing).

 

  • These pockets trap more food and bacteria with the infection steadily moving up the tooth roots with the eventual loss of teeth.

 

  • Dental infection further harms the animal by being a source of bacteria moving through the blood and can lead to intermittent fevers, kidney disease, and valvular disease of the heart and general debilitation.