Pet Dentistry

What does dentistry involve at NBVC?

If we have diagnosed your pet with dental disease, we will most likely recommend dental clean. This is a very common procedure and is essential in treating dental disease. If your pet is having a dental procedure, there are a few things you need to know:

• A general anaesthetic is required. We can’t ask our pets to say “open wide” while we have a look around. To make sure we are able to clean all the teeth and do it safely (we don’t want to be bitten!), a general anaesthetic is required. Your pet must be anaesthetised so we can properly examine the entire tooth. This includes the inner surface and all of the teeth right up the back of the mouth that you can’t see when your pet is awake.
• We use very similar equipment to human dentists. In some cases, this is the exact same equipment! A scaling device is used to remove any plaque that is stuck to the teeth, and the teeth are individually polished.
• Dental X-rays. We take full-mouth dental x-rays as part of our dental procedures so we can assess the bony structures around the tooth. This provides your pet with gold-standard dental care and allows us to be more selective with any tooth extractions.
• Extractions may be necessary. In some cases, bacteria may have already damaged the structures of the tooth, exposing roots and nerves. This is painful, so it is best we remove any diseased teeth. A fractured tooth may also require extraction. Antibiotics, pain relief and a diet of soft and chunky food may be needed until the extraction sites have healed.