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Dental Care

Support your pet's health with professional dental cleanings, exams, and oral care you can trust.

Pet Dental Care: Keeping Your Pet’s Smile Healthy for Life
Just like humans, pets need regular dental care to stay healthy and happy. Dental disease is one of the most common—and often overlooked—health issues in dogs and cats. Left untreated, it can lead to painful infections, tooth loss, and even impact vital organs like the heart and kidneys.

What Is Pet Dental Care?

Pet dental care involves the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases that affect your pet’s teeth, gums, and mouth. It includes:

  • Routine dental exams

  • Professional cleanings under anesthesia

  • Dental X-rays to check below the gumline

  • Treatment of periodontal disease

  • Extractions (if necessary)

  • At-home dental hygiene guidance

Why Is Dental Care Important for Pets?

By the age of 3, most pets already show signs of periodontal disease. Unfortunately, the early signs—bad breath, tartar buildup, or red gums—often go unnoticed until they become more serious.

Dental disease doesn’t just stay in the mouth. Bacteria can enter the bloodstream and affect your pet’s liver, kidneys, and heart. Routine dental care helps prevent these complications and improves your pet’s overall quality of life.

What Happens During a Dental Visit?

At our veterinary hospital, your pet’s dental care typically involves:

  1. Pre-anesthetic bloodwork to ensure your pet is healthy enough for anesthesia.

  2. Full-mouth examination and digital dental X-rays to assess the teeth and jaw health, including what can’t be seen above the gumline.

  3. Ultrasonic scaling to remove plaque and tartar buildup.

  4. Polishing to smooth the tooth surface and slow future buildup.

  5. Extractions if teeth are broken, loose, or infected (only if necessary).

  6. Pain management and post-procedure care to ensure your pet is comfortable.

All procedures are performed with your pet’s safety and comfort as our top priorities. We use advanced monitoring and gentle techniques throughout.

How Can I Help at Home?

While professional cleanings are key, home care is just as important. Your veterinarian can recommend:

  • Pet-safe toothbrushes and toothpaste

  • Dental chews or diets

  • Water additives or oral rinses

Even a few minutes of brushing several times a week can make a big difference.

Common Signs of Dental Trouble

Keep an eye out for:

  • Bad breath

  • Drooling

  • Difficulty chewing

  • Red or bleeding gums

  • Pawing at the mouth

  • Loose or missing teeth

If you notice any of these signs, schedule a dental exam promptly.

Your pet’s mouth is a window into their overall health. Regular dental care isn’t just about a cleaner smile, it’s about helping your furry companion live a longer, healthier life.

🐾 Looking to keep your pet healthy and happy? Visit us—we’re here to support every step of the way.

FAQs

We have provided some answers to our most common questions.

The Josh Client Assistnace Fund is a reserve of donations established in honor of Whole Pet Veterinary Center's former clinic cat, Josh. While Josh now lives with a graduate of our veterinary intern program, he originally came to us with multiple chronic and life-threatening illnesses that were too costly for his family to manage. We hope that with the creation of the Josh Fund, we can provide financial assistance to a small number of pet parents in need of unanticipated critical vet care. Funds will be used at the discretion of the veterinarian overseeing individual cases, along with that of the practice manager.

At Whole Pet Veterinary Center We accept cash, checks, all major credit cards, and CareCredit.

At Whole Pet Veterinary Center, we are an outpatient clinic. While we do keep patients during the day to perform tests and administer treatments, we do not have overnight/24 hr staff and do not keep pets here unattended. Patients not well enough to return home will be recommended to be transferred to the local Emergency hospital/ICU.

Fear-free vet visits use trained professionals and specialized techniques to reduce stress in pets during veterinary appointments. These visits involve gentle handling, a calm environment with soothing scents and lighting, and the use of positive reinforcement like treats and toys to build positive associations with the clinic. For some animals, a vet may also prescribe anti-anxiety medication or suggest bringing a hungry, food-motivated pet to an appointment for better rewards.

Yes, often. However, we are not an emergency or walk-in clinic, so please call. We save specific time slots in each day for pets needing care more urgently. These do tend to fill up fairly quickly in the morning. If we have reached our capacity for patients for the day, we will need to refer you to the local urgent care or emergency walk-in clinics. While we wish we could serve every patient in need, we also need to make sure that the patients we have for the day have enough staff to adequately care for them.

No, at Whole Pet Veterinary Center, all patient visits are by appointment only.