Pet Dental Health Month - a few questions from a dental student

[USUaggie]

I just learned about Pet Dental Health Month from this article:
http://www.wnewsj.com/main.asp?SectionID=49&SubSectionID=156&ArticleID=172984&TM=62113.78
It left me with a few questions. Specifically, this logic:

"Compare your five-year-old pooch with his 35-year-old human counterpart. I defy you to find any 35-year-old person that has never had his or her teeth cleaned that does not need it. Most of us would never dream of going that long without dental care. Besides, the 35-year-old person has probably at least been brushing regularly. Can you say the same for your pet? Not many of us can."

I don't see how the whole dog years/people years would make any bit of difference to the cavity-causing bacteria residing in the dog's mouth. If anything, the reduced frequency of snacking (compared to people) and increased salivary rate would make a canine much less prone to dental disease. A few years ago during a lecture a periodontist mentioned to us that brushing a dogs teeth doesn't do anything because the crunchy food the dog eats, combined with the conical tooth shape, prevent significant plaque from ever forming. I'm curious to know if they teach something different in vet. school.

I'm not saying animal dentistry isn't important - I'm actually interested in the field. It just seems that most of the animal dentistry stories I read about involve a dental injury and not necessarily tooth decay or gum disease that could be prevented by regular brushing/cleanings.

I'd like to hear your thoughts. Is this article is just a way for the author to generate some business? Or did my periodontal professor not have his facts straight?

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[Tuttley]

I agree with you on the whole age conversion factor being somewhat irrelevant.

Is this article is just a way for the author to generate some business? Or did my periodontal professor not have his facts straight?

But, no, your periodontal professor did not have his facts straight. Feeding crunchy foods etc certainly does help to reduce the formation of plaque, but it certainly does not eliminate it. The vast (and I mean vast!) majority of dental work done on cats and dogs is not to treat injuries, but to treat significant tooth decay and gum disease.

 

[Bill59]

Your periodontal professor needs to stick to teaching subjects he's trained in. Periodontal disease is the most common dental disease in dogs and cats and may even be the most prevalent disease of all in dogs and cats. Caries is less common but can also occur.

As in people, gingivitis and periodontal disease in dogs are caused by dental plaque, which will accumulate on a clean tooth surface within hours. Although certain diets can help, for example t/d, there is no substitute for regular brushing.

Also as in human patients, even with daily brushing to reduce plaque accumulations you also need periodic professional oral examinations and hygiene procedures to get those areas that the owners are missing.

 

[Electrophile]

But, no, your periodontal professor did not have his facts straight. Feeding crunchy foods etc certainly does help to reduce the formation of plaque, but it certainly does not eliminate it.

This is also incorrect. Feeding kibble does NOT reduce formation of plaque any better than canned food. This is why something like 85% of dogs have periodontal disease by the time they are 3 years of age (there was a study on this, can't find the source though). It's like saying you are brushing your teeth with toast and cereal. Dogs on a raw diet typically have very nice white teeth, but dogs on kibble and canned food will need either teeth brushing or some other mechanical way to remove the plaque.

 

[USUaggie]

Your periodontal professor needs to stick to teaching subjects he's trained in.

I agree. It was actually something he mentioned in passing during a lecture, not something he went into great detail about, but I've wondered about it ever since.

So, let me ask you this- are certain species of dog more or less prone to caries/perio disease? Is there a resource available to pet owners to find this info? And, since it's "pet" dental health month, not just dog dental health month, are there other pets that are more or less prone to these problems? Cats? Ferrets? Snakes? Hamsters? Rabbits? Rats and mice?

 

[RazorDoc2010]

I agree. It was actually something he mentioned in passing during a lecture, not something he went into great detail about, but I've wondered about it ever since.

So, let me ask you this- are certain species of dog more or less prone to caries/perio disease? Is there a resource available to pet owners to find this info? And, since it's "pet" dental health month, not just dog dental health month, are there other pets that are more or less prone to these problems? Cats? Ferrets? Snakes? Hamsters? Rabbits? Rats and mice?

I'm not completely certain on your question of whether certain breeds have a higher incidence of caries/perio dz. I just wanted to pass along some resources that we used to give people regarding dentistry (all from veterinarypartner.com; admittedly I did not read all of these so I apologize if some aren't exactly what you're going for):

Dental Health Should Be High Priority for Your Pet:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=454

Periodontal Disease in Pets:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=163

FAQ: Toothbrushing and Dental Prophylaxis in Cats and Dogs:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=128

Ferret Dentistry:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=140

Rabbit Dental Disease:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=472

FAQ: Periodontal Disease
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=222

Anyways, if you're interested in more/other topics, browse around on that site and I'm sure you can find more than you'll ever care to know on the subject.

 

[StealthDog]

Ferrets do occassionally need dental care for periodontal disease, fractured teeth (those buggers will chew on anything), and oral resorptive lesions.

Hedgehogs are particularly prone to developing dental disease and oral cancers.

Rats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, and rabbits all have open-rooted ("continuously growing") teeth, and can run into problems of teeth overgrowing if they have a malocclusion. Rabbits will get molar spurs similar to horses, which can trap the tongue or grow into the soft tissues on the buccal side of the mouth, causing pain and abscesses. Rabbits and rodents can also have incisor malocclusions, which can make the teeth grow in a bizzare number of directions. Some owners prefer to have the teeth trimmed on a regular basis, and others just have the incisors removed altogether.

All horses should have an oral exam every 6 months, with appropriate tooth floating as needed (again, due to their open-rooted teeth).

Some breeds of dogs do seem to be more prone to plauqe and tartar formation. I've found that the "long nosed" breeds like collies and greyhounds tend to have bad mouths- although, the greyhounds are usually fresh off the track, so who knows if their bad teeth is due to poor husbandry or breed.

 

[LVT2DVM]

This isnt scientific, but as an LVT, I would definately say that toy breeds and more specifically brachycephalic, toy breeds have more periodontal issues due to anatomic malocclusion than most breeds. With a close second to the sight hounds Stealthdog mentioned.

From talking with my personal hygienist, I think an interesting factoid in comparing human and animal dentistry is a human dental prophy is performed 90-95% percent with hand scalers followed up with flossing and polishing the enamel surfaces. Where as dog/cat dentals are done almost exclusively using ultrasonic scalers minus the explorer. Especially now with the advent of sub-gingival ultrasonic tips. With the exception of those toy breeds I mentioned, you can not really use dental floss because of the increased interproximal space. But I have used it on some rare occasions. Hand instruments are typically used for subgingival curettage and root planing for patients with abnormal gingival indexes and/or periodontal disease treatments. And of course we polish (or at least we're supposed to)

We also see a fair amount of dental issues related to retained deciduous teeth. I dont know how much of that human dentists encounter.

And a final note, although this is improving, general practitioners who practice veterinary dentistry are not utilizing dental radiography as often as they should. Ive only worked in one practice that incorporated dental radiographs as part of a routine dental prophy. Others that had a dental xray machine offered it as an "elective" or "only if visible problems were seen" option.

At the practice I work for now are dental prophy includes:
Oral examination and oral chart notation
Oral radiographs
Ultrasonic scaling of the supra-gingival surfaces
Sub-gingival curettage-PRN
Rotary polish
Oravet application
Orvet 7 pack to go home*
New fingerbrush and sample of toothpaste
1 Greenie bone or greenies sample for cats
7-day post dental tech appt. to demo Oravet application

*For "aggresive or will bite" patients we skip the oravet "go home" pack and include a bottle of CET Aquadent or similar product.

 

[RazorDoc2010]

This isnt scientific, but as an LVT, I would definately say that toy breeds and more specifically bracycephalic, toy breeds have more periodontal issues due to anatomic malocclusion than most breeds. With a close second to the sight hounds Stealthdog mentioned.

In regards to brachycephalic dogs and their horrible teeth...

"The normal dog has 42 teeth in its mouth. The brachycephalic dog also has 42 teeth but a lot less space to fit them in. This means that the teeth will be crowded and growing in at odd angles which, in turn, traps food debris and leads to periodontal disease at a far younger age than in non-brachycephalics. The earlier you begin using home care dental products, the longer you will be able to postpone full dentistry under general anesthesia."

From:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=663

 

[InfiniVet]

...If anything, the reduced frequency of snacking (compared to people)...

Hehe, this is a bit misaligned too, though I don't blame the logic behind it.
Your pet may have reduced snacking behavior because you don't feed him snacks, but careful about assigning that to everyone else.

I actually had a dental student boyfriend ironically enough, that in addition to the 5 or 6 dog treats he fed his Rottweiler everyday day the dog also got a Hostess Cupcake everyday! And leftovers. And his regular dinner. Until I came along and got to play Evil Mommy of course.

It's important to take into account of not only how folks are feeding their pets - some provide free choice food where the pets literally snack all day - BUT also how the pets are feeding themselves i.e getting into the trash can, jumping up on counters, stealing the cats food, running loose killing small animals...

 

[aphistis]

Your periodontal professor needs to stick to teaching subjects he's trained in.

...like periodontal disease? Making assumptions about his generalized incompetence and ignorance just because he doesn't have DVM behind his name makes about as much sense as if I assumed everyone here was incompetent and ignorant because you don't have DDS behind yours. Now, before anyone tries to leap on the opportunity to get all huffy and indignant, I'm *not* saying that at all. Just consider being a little less quick to judge in the future, m'kay?

 

[Electrophile]

Like periodontal disease in...humans? Aphistis, I wouldn't say the guy is incompetent for human dentistry, but he clearly doesn't know what he's talking about in terms of animals. Anyone with a kibble fed dog knows their teeth get nasty if the plaque is not mechanically or otherwise removed or prevented. I think what Bill59 meant was that the professor shouldn't randomly make authoratative claims for animals when he is trained to work on humans. God knows if we make claims for humans when we're trained to work on animals (even if we do learn a good bit about human medicine too), the MD/DOs like to rip our heads off.

 

[Bill59]

. Making assumptions about his generalized incompetence and ignorance just because he doesn't have DVM behind his name makes about as much sense as if I assumed everyone here was incompetent and ignorant because you don't have DDS behind yours.

I wasn't making assumptions about his generalized incompetence and ignorance. I was making assumptions about his specific incompetence and ignorance regarding this particular topic, veterinary dentistry. It had nothing to do with his degree, although I was giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming he made these comments based on lack of training in this particular field -- veterinary dentistry.

So there's no need to be offended, I wasn't criticizing all dentists, just this particular one. I love dentists in general, and I especially love the dentist I go to. But I don't tell her what to do when she's working on my teeth, and she doesn't tell me what to do when I'm treating her cat.

 

[sofficat]

We had a lecture last week from a vet dentist and he (who kept great records) said over the past 10 years 87% of his patients were in for periodontal disease... and this is a vet specialist who gets all the weird dental stuff, too, so in regular practices it must be even more (I would think). In the practices where I worked it was near 100%... I can barely think of any patients that came in for a cracked tooth and only a tiny handful of broken jaws, but every day we were doing dentals on NASTY teeth.
I can understand how some think pets don't need it because 'they don't get it done in the wild' but they aren't in the wild anymore, they live longer as pets and eat very differently. So, yes- pets NEED dentals!

 

[USUaggie]

...I can understand how some think pets don't need it because 'they don't get it done in the wild' but they aren't in the wild anymore, they live longer as pets and eat very differently. So, yes- pets NEED dentals!

That's interesting that you would mention that because if you look at the rates of caries in humans, it has skyrocketed since we invented refined sugars. People "in the wild" supposedly need less dental work as well.

The reason I assumed vet dentistry was mostly dental injuries is because that's all I read about in the dental-related news I scan regularly for my little dental blog, but I can see how "Dog gets teeth cleaned" doesn't make for as interesting a news item.

 

[sofficat]

That's interesting that you would mention that because if you look at the rates of caries in humans, it has skyrocketed since we invented refined sugars. People "in the wild" supposedly need less dental work as well.

The reason I assumed vet dentistry was mostly dental injuries is because that's all I read about in the dental-related news I scan regularly for my little dental blog, but I can see how "Dog gets teeth cleaned" doesn't make for as interesting a news item.

haha- 'shocking news story.... dog gets teeth cleaned!' yeah- not so much for the headline eye catcher
that would make sense about humans 'in the wild', too. I mean, if all we ate were apples and potatoes and meat then I'd assume our teeth would look a lot better than when we eat cheetos and cookies and laffy taffy.

 

[Bill59]

USUaggie, if you're interested here are a few links:

American Veterinary Dental College

American Veterinary Dentistry Society

Journal Veterinary Dentistry

 

[USUaggie]

Yeah, thanks Bill and Razordoc for the links - great resources. I'd like to feel like I know what I'm talking about when patients aske me about their pets' dental health.

 

[tealamutt]

don't forget to refer them to their veterinarian for questions either!!