{"id":1046,"date":"2015-11-29T21:52:39","date_gmt":"2015-11-29T21:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/?p=1046"},"modified":"2019-09-11T16:47:40","modified_gmt":"2019-09-11T15:47:40","slug":"prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/","title":{"rendered":"Prophylactic dental treatment &#8211; Dental scale and polish."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dental disease is a very common problem in dogs and cats with most over the age of 3 having teeth and gum problems.<br \/>\nIt is useful to recognise that dental disease in pets progresses in the same way ours does.<br \/>\nIt starts with plaque (a sticky invisible infected film) that becomes mineralised (tartar). \u00a0Gums become inflamed due to the irritation of the plaque.<br \/>\nGingivitis (inflamed gums) is seen as red or swollen gum margins. Gingivitis \u00a0can cause the gums to bleed (just like ours can when we brush our teeth). \u00a0Tartar is seen as the rough raised coating on teeth. Ongoing inflammation of the gums from untreated gingivitis eventually leads to loss of the periodontal ligament and the gums recede from the teeth (periodontitis). Eventually there will be loss of bone.<br \/>\nIf we remove the tartar before the gingivitis progresses to periodontal disease it is completely reversible. \u00a0Periodontitis follows on from gingivitis and is not reversible. \u00a0So it is important to remove the tartar before the periodontitis starts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If left untreated dental disease progresses and can result in:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bad breath &#8211; Halitosis<\/li>\n<li>Gum disease &#8211; Gingivitis<\/li>\n<li>Supporting tissue disease &#8211; Periodontitis<\/li>\n<li>Loss of teeth<\/li>\n<li>Can cause and progress kidney disease<\/li>\n<li>Liver inflammation and infection<\/li>\n<li>Heart valve disease<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Before the treatment:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/dentalscalebeforelabeledlabel.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1065\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/dentalscalebeforelabeledlabel-1024x288.jpg\" alt=\"dentalscalebeforelabeledlabel\" width=\"600\" height=\"169\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nAfter treatment:<br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/dentalscale-logo-pre.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1063 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/dentalscale-logo-pre-1024x205.jpg\" alt=\"dentalscale logo pre\" width=\"601\" height=\"120\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 601px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 601\/120;\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>How do we scale and polish teeth?<\/strong><br \/>\nCleaning the teeth properly involves an anaesthetic. \u00a0It is impossible to examine and clean the teeth properly without an anaesthetic. \u00a0Modern anaesthetics are very safe in otherwise healthy pets.<br \/>\nOnce they are asleep we use an ultrasonic scaler, just like your dentist, to remove the tartar and plaque. \u00a0It is very important to scale beneath the gum line. If you&#8217;ve ever had your teeth scaled you will be aware that it is quite uncomfortable. \u00a0As our patients teeth are usually in a lot worse condition than yours would be &#8211; you can appreciate that it is important for them to feel no pain.<br \/>\nOnce all the teeth have been descaled, a fine fluoride polish is used to smooth the surface of the enamel to make it difficult for plaque to stick to the surface.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What to do after the treatment?<\/strong><br \/>\nPlaque builds up quickly afterwards so home care should be started as soon as possible.<br \/>\nWe brush our teeth twice a day to remove plaque. \u00a0With pets this is a lot more challenging!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Brushing the teeth with a pet toothpaste.<\/li>\n<li>Mechanical cleaning with dental specific foods.<\/li>\n<li>Pet specific mouth washes, water additives, gels etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Veterinary Oral Health Council has a list of products for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vohc.org\/VOHCAcceptedProductsTable_Dogs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dogs<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vohc.org\/VOHCAcceptedProductsTable_Cats.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cats<\/a> that have been proven to make a difference in the development of plaque and\/or tartar.<br \/>\nOne of the most useful products we recommend is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthymouth.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ESSENTIAL\u2122 healthymouth\u2122 anti-plaque water additive<\/a>. \u00a0This has multiple VOHC seals of approval, proving it&#8217;s effectivity. \u00a0You only need to add it to your dog and cat&#8217;s drinking water, making it easy and convenient to use. \u00a0It is in stock at Potton Vets, and you don&#8217;t need a prescription.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/our-facilities\/dentistry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">More on dental disease.<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/PsNlLLSBWLU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How to brush my dogs teeth.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dental disease is a very common problem in dogs and cats with most over the age of 3 having teeth and gum problems. It is useful to recognise that dental disease in pets progresses in the same way ours does. It starts with plaque (a sticky invisible infected film) that becomes mineralised (tartar). \u00a0Gums become [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[28,29,30,31],"class_list":["post-1046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pet-care","tag-cats-teeth","tag-dental-disease","tag-dogs-teeth","tag-scale-and-polish"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Prophylactic dental treatment - Dental scale and polish. - Potton Veterinary Surgery<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prophylactic dental treatment - Dental scale and polish. - Potton Veterinary Surgery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dental disease is a very common problem in dogs and cats with most over the age of 3 having teeth and gum problems. It is useful to recognise that dental disease in pets progresses in the same way ours does. It starts with plaque (a sticky invisible infected film) that becomes mineralised (tartar). \u00a0Gums become [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Potton Veterinary Surgery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-29T21:52:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-11T15:47:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ben\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ben\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ben\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/#\/schema\/person\/630f610e09d324e0d1f81c175a29624c\"},\"headline\":\"Prophylactic dental treatment &#8211; Dental scale and polish.\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-29T21:52:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-11T15:47:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/\"},\"wordCount\":521,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"keywords\":[\"cats teeth\",\"dental disease\",\"dogs teeth\",\"Scale and polish\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Pet Care\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/\",\"name\":\"Prophylactic dental treatment - Dental scale and polish. - Potton Veterinary Surgery\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-29T21:52:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-11T15:47:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/#\/schema\/person\/630f610e09d324e0d1f81c175a29624c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Prophylactic dental treatment &#8211; Dental scale and polish.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/\",\"name\":\"Potton Veterinary Surgery\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/#\/schema\/person\/630f610e09d324e0d1f81c175a29624c\",\"name\":\"ben\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820836fab9f739fca2f25ce86cda3eb9efcb0bbba82c1a0d3eeacb43f4a26e47?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820836fab9f739fca2f25ce86cda3eb9efcb0bbba82c1a0d3eeacb43f4a26e47?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820836fab9f739fca2f25ce86cda3eb9efcb0bbba82c1a0d3eeacb43f4a26e47?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ben\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/author\/ben\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Prophylactic dental treatment - Dental scale and polish. - Potton Veterinary Surgery","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Prophylactic dental treatment - Dental scale and polish. - Potton Veterinary Surgery","og_description":"Dental disease is a very common problem in dogs and cats with most over the age of 3 having teeth and gum problems. It is useful to recognise that dental disease in pets progresses in the same way ours does. It starts with plaque (a sticky invisible infected film) that becomes mineralised (tartar). \u00a0Gums become [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/","og_site_name":"Potton Veterinary Surgery","article_published_time":"2015-11-29T21:52:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-09-11T15:47:40+00:00","author":"ben","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ben","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/"},"author":{"name":"ben","@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/#\/schema\/person\/630f610e09d324e0d1f81c175a29624c"},"headline":"Prophylactic dental treatment &#8211; Dental scale and polish.","datePublished":"2015-11-29T21:52:39+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-11T15:47:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/"},"wordCount":521,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","keywords":["cats teeth","dental disease","dogs teeth","Scale and polish"],"articleSection":["Pet Care"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/","name":"Prophylactic dental treatment - Dental scale and polish. - Potton Veterinary Surgery","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2015-11-29T21:52:39+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-11T15:47:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/#\/schema\/person\/630f610e09d324e0d1f81c175a29624c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/prophylactic-dental-treatment-dental-scale-and-polish\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Prophylactic dental treatment &#8211; Dental scale and polish."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/","name":"Potton Veterinary Surgery","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/#\/schema\/person\/630f610e09d324e0d1f81c175a29624c","name":"ben","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820836fab9f739fca2f25ce86cda3eb9efcb0bbba82c1a0d3eeacb43f4a26e47?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820836fab9f739fca2f25ce86cda3eb9efcb0bbba82c1a0d3eeacb43f4a26e47?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820836fab9f739fca2f25ce86cda3eb9efcb0bbba82c1a0d3eeacb43f4a26e47?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ben"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/author\/ben\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pottonvets.co.uk\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}