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Phone: (952) 472-4900

Twelve Steps To A Professional Veterinary Oral Health Visit

No other procedure performed on small animals does more to help patients than periodic teeth cleaning and after care. The dental visit for cleaning must be performed in a methodical manner. All twelve steps are important and interlinked. When one step is not performed, long term patient benefit suffers. The problem is, many clinics do NOT do all twelve steps. It is our philosophy to make available the best care for your pet so we will always offer all twelve steps to you.

Step 1) Oral examination on the unanesthetized animal. This great starting point is most often performed during a routine physical examination. However, there is a limit as to what an examiner can see. For example, 40% of bone loss due to periodontal disease can only seen with dental radiographs ("X-rays").

Step 2) Oral examination under general anesthesia. We examine individual teeth for mobility, fractures, malocclusion, and periodontal disease (probe for pocket depths after calculus is removed) while the pet is under general anesthesia.

Step 3) Supragingival (above the gumline) plaque and tartar removal using calculus removing forceps, hand instruments, and power scaling equipment. Supragingival deposits are removed from the surfaces of the teeth. The ultrasonic scaler removes plaque and tartar from the teeth.

Oral Exam
Close examination of the patient's
teeth under anesthesia
Your Pet Is Gently Cared For By A Highly Educated Staff
Our certified veterinary technicians have taken additional training beyond their veterinary technicial school education. Our technicians are also qualified dental technicians. They have studied and passed an extensive course offered by the American Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians (ASVDT). For more information about the ASVDT, visit their website at: American Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians

Step 4) Subgingival (below the gumline) scaling, root planing, curettage. Cleaning below the gumline is a critical part of good dental care. It is below the gumline, the tartar that you cannot see with your eye, that is causing the inflammation and bone loss. It is vital that the teeth be cleaned below the gumline.
It is infortunate, but many pet care providers, not properly trained in veterinary dental care, will try to convince pet owners that care above the gum line is all that is needed. These pseudo-professionials will try to trick pet owners into thinking that the teeth are clean based upon testimonials or "before and after" photographs, showing "cleaned teeth" without using anesthesia. Gum disease is painful, to humans and to pets, gum disease is inflammation. That is why many human dentists use a local anesthetic, such as "Novacaine" to eliminate the pain in humans. Pet's will experience pain also if the inflamed gums are handled, which is necessary to remove the tartar below the gumline. That is why general anesthesia is so often required to perform proper, correct, and effective pet dental care, so that the diseased tissue below the inflamed, painful gums can be removed.
Any pet care provider that tries to convince you that anesthesia is not needed to clean teeth is a fraud, and is not doing you nor your pet any favors.
Our ASVDT qualified dental technicians are trained to properly and gently clean the diseased tissue below the gumline. Our technicians have continued their education beyond basic veterinary technician school and are now qualified by the American Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians. Our technicians either do the subgingival cleaning themselves or directly supervise others who might be doing the cleaning.

Step 5) Polishing. Regardless of how careful we are during the scaling/curettage phase of teeth cleaning, minor defects of the tooth surface occur. Polishing smoothes out the defects and removes plaque missed during previous steps.

Step 6) Irrigation. With irrigation, diseased tissue and plaque are removed from the pocket or sulcus.

Step 7) Fluoride is placed on dry teeth and allowed to remain undisturbed for at least four minutes. Fluoride helps maintain the strength and helps protect the enamel.

Step 8) Post cleaning examination and diagnostics. After cleaning, teeth are examined individually via periodontal probing, compressed air application to the gingiva to examine for retained calculus, disclosing solution, and radiology (if indicated). A treatment plan is then devised. This is why it is important for us to be able to contact you on the day when your pet is with us during a professional teeth-cleaning treatment. Just like a patient with a broken leg, before a treatment plan can be devised an x-ray is taken. The same is true with patients with periodontal disease. A thorough evaluation of each cleaned tooth and many x-rays are required so all the damage caused by the periodontal disease can be determined. Once the appropriate diagnostics are completed, a treatment plan can be devised.

Dental Tech Taking Xray
ASVDT Qualified Dental Technician
Taking An Xray of a Patients Teeth

Step 9) Charting. Record the disease that is present before starting therapy. Charting must include missing, loose, fractured, and discolored teeth, as well as feline oral resorptive lesions, periodontal pocket depths, gingival recession, and other significant lesions.

Step 10) Advanced Therapy to treat problems noted above.
Some common examples of advanced therapy are flap surgeries to reduce pocket depth, application of long acting antibiotics into a pocket, application of bone grafting material to stimulate new bone growth, root canal therapy, or crown therapy. We try to save teeth as much as possible and avoid extraction as much as possible. Many times options other than "extraction" are possible !!

Dental XRay
X-ray of a normal appearing tooth that bled when probed. X-ray revealed bone loss at tip of tooth root (see arrow) indicating root canal therapy and antibiotics

Step 11) Home care instructions.
The pet owner is an integral part of our dental team. The dental visit is not complete until discussion is held on maintaining and improving oral health. We ask that dental patients return one week after their cleaning, diagnostics, and treatment. At that time, a qualified dental technician will discuss with you and demonstrate daily home care.

Daily home care is the single most important procedure the owner can do to maintain oral health. For example, daily brushing will dramatically increase the interval between teeth cleaning appointments. Plaque is constantly being made and deposited in the mouth. Humans have a buildup of plaque in the morning, that makes our breath smell bad. Proper home care can keep plaque buildup under control. People brush their teeth several times daily to remove plaque -- why not our pets? If you are unable to brush your pets teeth daily, there are other options in which you can provide daily home care for your pet.

The goal of dental home care is to remove plaque from tooth surfaces and gingival margins before it mineralizes into calculus, a process that occurs within days of a teeth cleaning. Success depends on an owner's ability to daily brush the teeth, as well as the pet's acceptance of the process. True oral cleanliness can only be achieved through the mechanical action of toothbrush bristles above and below the gingiva.

Step 12) Follow-up progress visits are as essential as any of the preceding steps. The time between oral exams is based on the degree of disease and your ability to provide home care. Some severe periodontal cases are rechecked monthly, while pets that have been treated for grade one gingivitis, and their teeth brushed once or twice daily, can be rechecked every six months.
As part of our Professional Oral Health Care visit, we include one visit at no extra charge. Clients bring their pet in one week after the treatments were done and visit with one of our professional dental health care team members. With your help, we try to customize a dental home care treatment plan.

Paw  For detailed information about the Twelve Steps To A Professional Teeth Cleaning Visit, about periodontal disease in pets, and what you should expect from a quality veterinary dental care visit, go to All Pets Dental on the Internet at:
The Twelve Steps To A Professional Teeth Cleaning Visit  This web site was designed by Dr. Jan Bellows, a veterinarian with a board certification in veterinary dentistry.

How much is your investment into a twelve step professional oral health visit and in your pet's oral health?

*Care Credit Information
To help defray the investment burden of quality medical care, "Care Credit" is available through this clinic. Care Credit is a unique credit line available only to qualified health providers. We are only one of a handful of veterinary clinics in Minnesota which has completed the qualification process. Financing is provided by a bank. The interests rates are low when you make timely payments. Westonka Animal Hospital pays a portion of your interest payment initially, giving you an interest-free time period. The application process is easy. If you are interested in learning more, please ask our receptionist.

Because pet's bodies can change rapidly, the above estimates are only valid for two weeks from the date listed above

Does Your Veterinary Provider Do All Twelve Steps To A Professional Oral Health Visit?

Does Your Provider Have ASVDT Qualified Technicians Supervising or Performing The Scaling & Polishing For Your Valued Family Member?

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