VETERINARY ODONTOSTOMATOLOGY

Dentistry is the branch of medicine that studies tooth and mouth affections. Dental hygiene and care, often underestimated, affect dogs and cats more frequently than one might imagine: as many as 70% of patients over 8 years of age suffer from periodontal diseases.

Dogs and cats are carnivores, and teeth have always been a crucial anatomical part for an optimally qualitative life: having a good "chewing" apparatus means having good digestive processes, maintaining a constant balance of the entire gastrointestinal tract, and preventing periodontal disease.

Dogs and cats are often affected by tartar, plaque, inflammations of the gums and oral cavity, oro-cutaneous or oronasal fistulas, abscesses.

Maintaining proper oral hygiene also allows them to maintain healthy teeth for a long time, ensuring proper chewing and food intake, preventing lung diseases due to the migration of germs from the mouth to the respiratory tract, and the formation of painful lesions.

In general, it can be reiterated that dogs and cats have a greater accumulation of dental plaque-tartar-gingivitis-periodontal disease when they receive a diet based on soft and sticky foods rather than hard and fibrous ones. All other causes of periodontal disease should certainly not be neglected, such as occlusion problems, lack of antagonist teeth, systemic diseases, individual and genetic factors.

Dental cleaning is a procedure performed by the veterinarian under anaesthesia using ultrasonic devices and specific surgical instruments. The owner, always on the advice of their referring veterinarian, can implement preventive activities by using enzymatic pastes that reduce bacterial load in the oral cavity, sticks that allow mechanical cleaning and contain active components against bacteria, or by periodically brushing the dog's teeth.