Healthy Pet Smiles

Discolored Teeth  In a veterinary practice, it is not uncommon to see discolored teeth in our patients. There are many causes of discoloration, including trauma, infection, metabolic disease, or drug-induced. When evaluating discolored teeth, many things should be taken into consideration including age, history, overall health, and how long the tooth/teeth have been discolored. All…

What does it mean if my dog or cat has bad breath? There can be many causes of bad breath (halitosis), including GI disease, kidney disease, and lung disease, but the most common cause is poor oral hygiene. When plaque bacteria build-up on the teeth, they break down food particles and produce smelly sulfur compounds.…

Fractured teeth are commonly encountered in veterinary medicine. If the pulp is exposed, fractured teeth are very painful and lead to infection if untreated. In most cases, fractured teeth are caused by chewing on inappropriately hard objects (objects that are harder than the teeth). The function of dog and cat dentition is to grasp, pull,…

What is stomatitis? Feline stomatitis is a painful disease that we encounter all too often as veterinary dentists. It is characterized by severe inflammation of the gingiva and mucosa in the mouths of our feline patients. The classical appearance of stomatitis involves inflammation in the caudal oral cavity (far back regions of the mouth) where…