Periodontal Therapy

Treating your pet’s gum disease

Periodontal Health Is Gum Health

Dogs, cats, and people all have something in common: Gum health impacts our overall health and well-being. Some of us are more prone than others to plaque, calculus, and gingivitis, but we all benefit from clean teeth and healthy gum tissues. As you would expect, prevention is the best medicine, and prevention means keeping the teeth as clean as possible.

Home Care

Prevention at home for dogs and cats includes measures such as daily brushing of the teeth, using dental wipes, water additives, food additives, and chews, and in some cases, following prescription diets**. Every pet is different. They do not all accept the same things, and various measures work better for some than for others.

Just like us, pets also need to have their teeth professionally cleaned to get under the gum line and into all those other hard-to-reach areas! Unlike us, however, this needs to be performed under anesthesia for it to be effective. Non-anesthetized dental cleanings can provide ineffective or inaccurate results, hiding the true extent of gum disease, which can then lead to severe bone loss and infection. Dental Cleanings

Advanced Periodontal Therapies We will take every precaution necessary to safely anesthetize your furry family member and see that they recover well from their procedure. While under our care, they will have:
  • Thorough imaging of the teeth as well as the jaws, jaw joints, nose, and ears
  • An oral examination to evaluate all the pockets around the teeth
  • Ultrasonic cleaning of all the tooth surfaces above and below the gum line
  • Detailed cleaning with hand instruments to remove all traces of tartar
 Any other advanced therapies that are needed will also be performed under the same anesthetic.
Advanced periodontal therapies include:
  • Root planing: Deeper pockets along the root of a tooth are carefully and completely cleaned of all diseased tissue and debris.
  • Perioceutics: An antibiotic is placed directly into a pocket to continue treating gum disease after your pet leaves the office.
  • Guided tissue regeneration and periodontal flap surgery: An advanced surgical procedure that opens up a flap to better access a periodontal pocket in order to clean it out. Bone graft material is then placed to regrow the bone that has been lost.
 Safe Anesthesia

We will do our very best to help pets maintain periodontal health and retain their teeth. However, if necessary, we can also extract* teeth that are causing problems resulting from severe periodontitis or other causes. At their follow-up appointment we will discuss a detailed and personalized home care plan to keep their mouths happy and healthy. Follow-up Appointments