VERNON HILLS ANIMAL HOSPITAL
Caring for your pet as tenderly as you do.
GENERAL
DENTISTRY
We're BIG on dentistry here at Vernon Hills Animal Hospital.
That's because dental disease affects and lowers the quality of
life of more pets than any other disease. Swollen gums and infected
teeth cause your dog or cat's immune system to work overtime to
fight off the germs that are common in periodontal disease. It's
not unusual for an owner to tell us that after their pet's teeth
were cleaned, they "acted like a puppy (or kitten)
again".
The veterinarian begins the procedure with a thorough oral
examination. After this, the veterinary technician removes the
tartar using both hand scaling and an ultrasonic cleaner just like
the one your human dental technician uses. The gingival pockets
(the space between each tooth and the surrounding gum tissue) are
then probed, to see if there are any deep pockets. These pockets
are scraped using a tiny curette, and then flushed. Deep pockets
may be filled with an antibiotic gel to help them heal. Finally,
the teeth are polished using a high speed polisher.
You can see that dental patients need to be lightly anesthetized
for this procedure. We use the safest anesthetic available, a gas
called Sevoflurane. Even very old patients tolerate this procedure
quite well. We do recommend a pre-op blood panel to evaluate each
patient's health. Your pet can go home the same day, and is alert
and ready to greet you when you pick him or her up!
