Post by Lucy on May 3, 2012 18:59:19 GMT
Yesterday Sarah and I took Leilani and Rogue to see a canine dental specialist. We asked to be referred by our new vet as the girls had retained their puppy teeth and it was about time they came out!
We spoke with the nurse over the phone when she phoned to book us in and then did our research. When we met Lisa (the dental specialist) we were not disappointed. She is one of the top 6 specialist in the UK and served a 3-year term as president of the British Veterinary Dental Association. We also found out, much to our delight, that Lisa works with all sized animals, from bears and tigers even down to chinchillas!
Her practice is a converted cottage (which we were wondering if she also lives in). It was so beautiful and welcoming there. Lauren the nurse welcomed us and was immediately best friends with the girls. Lisa was fantastic and answered all of our questions, didn't rush us at all and made the girls feel safe and happy.
We spent the day trying to take our minds off of the thought of surgery and finally got to pick the girls up at 3pm. They came out very sleepy but we got a few wags of their tails lol. Lisa then spoke with us for an hour, again answering all of our questions in fantastic detail. You could really tell she loves what she does and really cares about the animals!
They had given the girls lots of love and even taken pictures of them.
Poor Leilani had to have 22 teeth out! The vet explained to us how she removed them (we always thought it was a case of yanking them out which turns out can do a LOT of damage to the adult teeth) with a special instrument from Sweden (I think), she even went and got it to show us!
Lani had to have her bottom gum cut open and some of the soft tissue removed to encourage the teeth grow upwards. We were also advised to let them chew on something firm like a kong to encourage their bites to spread out after the op!
Rogue had 7 teeth out but unfortunately also had a cyst caused by an adult tooth
Thank goodness Lisa is so thorough and takes x rays before she begins as that's how she noticed it. She managed to get the cyst out and clean out the lining so hopefully it won't come back! If we had gone to a normal vet for the removal, an x-ray probably wouldn't have been done. I did ask Lisa when would we have noticed it and she said it could've take 2-3 years, by which time it her jaw could've been weakened and possibly could have broken!
We then picked Lisa's brain about doggy dental care and were FASCINATED by her response!
She told us that toothpaste is not necessary for brushing your dogs teeth. The main objective is to "disturb" the bacteria that settles on your dogs teeth. Toothpaste might make the experience more pleasant for the dog (if they like the flavour) and Lisa actually said she herself uses it as a treat for her own dog and lets him have another lick of it after brushing lol.
The enzymes in those toothpastes are actually the same ones found naturally in saliva so its not actually doing anything that doesn't already happen in your dogs mouth anyway.
We asked about the girls having such small mouths and were told that even if you just get a cotton bud and rub it against the teeth, it should prevent a buildup of plaque! A great tip for others who have problems brushing teeth!
Lisa told us that water additives and the like are a waste of time. She said if your dog has bad breath, its usually an indicator of another problem and so you're only masking up the smell, rather than dealing with the issue causing it.
Another thing that I never thought about, although I must've been silly not to, was that when you're looking after your dogs teeth, you're actually looking after their gums. If you keep your dogs gums healthy, their teeth will stay in there longer lol.
Kiki actually has a few "mobile" teeth, her lower incisors, and I asked Lisa about it because I was quite worried. She told me that it isn't unusual as the lower jaw has a lot of soft tissue and as long as Kiki's gums stay healthy, those teeth should be able to hang on in there for a long time.
I personally will continue to use the toothpaste because my dogs LOVE the poultry flavoured one *bleurghh!* and so enjoy having their teeth brushed with it. I would still recommend Petzlife to anyone who is dealing with a lot of plaque buildup as it has done WONDERS for their teeth, but I'm hoping it'll never get to the point of having to use it again.
Lisa also gave us (for free- woohoo!) an antibacterial gel to apply to their mouths to help healing but said that we can use it once a week for the other dogs to help promote healthy gums. It helps to kill off the bacteria so there's less of a buildup.
Oh and an added bonus, we got to keep the teeth! You could tell that none of them had even begun to reabsorb
So all in all it was an eye-opening day. I would highly recommend anyone who has any sort of teeth/mouth issues to go to a specialist rather than a regular vet. Sarah and I are so lucky to have found our holistic vet who isn't just in it for the money and admitted he wouldn't feel entirely comfortable operating and said he'd phone around a few specialists for us.
Also, he actually said (being holistic and all) that he'd leave the girls for another 6 months to see if the teeth come out by themselves but Lisa actually suggested that if the teeth hadn't come out by the time the adult ones had grown in (or around 6 months), it's best to have them removed rather than just leaving them in to encourage the adults to grow through properly.
Oops, didn't mean to write such a long post! But I do hope some of these tips help you, too!
We spoke with the nurse over the phone when she phoned to book us in and then did our research. When we met Lisa (the dental specialist) we were not disappointed. She is one of the top 6 specialist in the UK and served a 3-year term as president of the British Veterinary Dental Association. We also found out, much to our delight, that Lisa works with all sized animals, from bears and tigers even down to chinchillas!
Her practice is a converted cottage (which we were wondering if she also lives in). It was so beautiful and welcoming there. Lauren the nurse welcomed us and was immediately best friends with the girls. Lisa was fantastic and answered all of our questions, didn't rush us at all and made the girls feel safe and happy.
We spent the day trying to take our minds off of the thought of surgery and finally got to pick the girls up at 3pm. They came out very sleepy but we got a few wags of their tails lol. Lisa then spoke with us for an hour, again answering all of our questions in fantastic detail. You could really tell she loves what she does and really cares about the animals!
They had given the girls lots of love and even taken pictures of them.
Poor Leilani had to have 22 teeth out! The vet explained to us how she removed them (we always thought it was a case of yanking them out which turns out can do a LOT of damage to the adult teeth) with a special instrument from Sweden (I think), she even went and got it to show us!
Lani had to have her bottom gum cut open and some of the soft tissue removed to encourage the teeth grow upwards. We were also advised to let them chew on something firm like a kong to encourage their bites to spread out after the op!
Rogue had 7 teeth out but unfortunately also had a cyst caused by an adult tooth
Thank goodness Lisa is so thorough and takes x rays before she begins as that's how she noticed it. She managed to get the cyst out and clean out the lining so hopefully it won't come back! If we had gone to a normal vet for the removal, an x-ray probably wouldn't have been done. I did ask Lisa when would we have noticed it and she said it could've take 2-3 years, by which time it her jaw could've been weakened and possibly could have broken!
We then picked Lisa's brain about doggy dental care and were FASCINATED by her response!
She told us that toothpaste is not necessary for brushing your dogs teeth. The main objective is to "disturb" the bacteria that settles on your dogs teeth. Toothpaste might make the experience more pleasant for the dog (if they like the flavour) and Lisa actually said she herself uses it as a treat for her own dog and lets him have another lick of it after brushing lol.
The enzymes in those toothpastes are actually the same ones found naturally in saliva so its not actually doing anything that doesn't already happen in your dogs mouth anyway.
We asked about the girls having such small mouths and were told that even if you just get a cotton bud and rub it against the teeth, it should prevent a buildup of plaque! A great tip for others who have problems brushing teeth!
Lisa told us that water additives and the like are a waste of time. She said if your dog has bad breath, its usually an indicator of another problem and so you're only masking up the smell, rather than dealing with the issue causing it.
Another thing that I never thought about, although I must've been silly not to, was that when you're looking after your dogs teeth, you're actually looking after their gums. If you keep your dogs gums healthy, their teeth will stay in there longer lol.
Kiki actually has a few "mobile" teeth, her lower incisors, and I asked Lisa about it because I was quite worried. She told me that it isn't unusual as the lower jaw has a lot of soft tissue and as long as Kiki's gums stay healthy, those teeth should be able to hang on in there for a long time.
I personally will continue to use the toothpaste because my dogs LOVE the poultry flavoured one *bleurghh!* and so enjoy having their teeth brushed with it. I would still recommend Petzlife to anyone who is dealing with a lot of plaque buildup as it has done WONDERS for their teeth, but I'm hoping it'll never get to the point of having to use it again.
Lisa also gave us (for free- woohoo!) an antibacterial gel to apply to their mouths to help healing but said that we can use it once a week for the other dogs to help promote healthy gums. It helps to kill off the bacteria so there's less of a buildup.
Oh and an added bonus, we got to keep the teeth! You could tell that none of them had even begun to reabsorb
So all in all it was an eye-opening day. I would highly recommend anyone who has any sort of teeth/mouth issues to go to a specialist rather than a regular vet. Sarah and I are so lucky to have found our holistic vet who isn't just in it for the money and admitted he wouldn't feel entirely comfortable operating and said he'd phone around a few specialists for us.
Also, he actually said (being holistic and all) that he'd leave the girls for another 6 months to see if the teeth come out by themselves but Lisa actually suggested that if the teeth hadn't come out by the time the adult ones had grown in (or around 6 months), it's best to have them removed rather than just leaving them in to encourage the adults to grow through properly.
Oops, didn't mean to write such a long post! But I do hope some of these tips help you, too!
