{"id":130,"date":"2011-02-08T22:54:21","date_gmt":"2011-02-08T22:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/?p=130"},"modified":"2011-02-08T22:54:21","modified_gmt":"2011-02-08T22:54:21","slug":"behind-closed-doors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind Closed Doors\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite the best of efforts, most pets can benefit from having a dentistry performed at some point in their life. \u00a0In fact, you should plan for your pet to require a dental cleaning every 1-2 years after 3 years of age (this may vary between animals). \u00a0But what really happens when you drop your furry friend off for this procedure?<\/p>\n

\n
1. General anesthesia<\/strong><\/div>\n
In order for your veterinarian to provide the best care for your pet full anesthesia is required. \u00a0An awake animal will not tolerate a thorough cleaning and full examination of the mouth. \u00a0The veterinarian customizes a safe anesthetic protocol for each individual pet. \u00a0Anyone who claims to be able to perform this procedure without anesthesia likely does not have your pet\u2019s best interest at heart.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
2. Thorough oral exam and charting<\/strong><\/div>\n
The mouth and each tooth are extensively examined, a procedure that is impossible to fully do in a conscious animal. \u00a0Dental radiographs (x-rays) are often taken in order to identify problems with teeth that may appear normal on the surface. \u00a0Periodontal probing helps to identify disease. \u00a0Any concerns are noted on your animal\u2019s dental chart and diseased tissues or teeth addressed.<\/div>\n
4. Extractions and Surgical Treatments<\/strong><\/div>\n
Any diseased teeth or tissues identified during the examination and dental x-ray process will be addressed. \u00a0This may involve removing teeth that cannot be saved or that are causing your pet problems.<\/div>\n
3. Scaling<\/strong><\/div>\n
Plaque and tartar is removed from above and below the gumline. \u00a0Cleaning the subgingival tooth (below the gumline) is vital to remove disease-causing bacteria.<\/div>\n
4. Polishing<\/strong><\/div>\n
Scaling the teeth creates a slightly rough surface where plaque and calculus can accumulate. \u00a0Polishing smooths the tooth surface in order to make the effects of your pet\u2019s dental cleaning last longer.<\/div>\n
5. Additional treatments<\/strong><\/div>\n
Your veterinarian will apply a fluoride treatment in order to help keep your pet\u2019s teeth healthy longer. \u00a0Other treatments such as the application of a barrier sealant may also be performed if deemed appropriate for your pet.<\/div>\n

Most dental procedures are outpatient procedures. \u00a0Your veterinarian will provide instructions regarding home dental care and future recommendations. Once you bring your pet home you may be instructed to feed softer food for several days or administer medication for pain or infection at home. \u00a0Your pet may be a little groggy from the anesthesia for 24 hours or so, but should be back to normal fairly quickly. \u00a0It is natural to be a little nervous about any medical procedure, but understanding the process helps to make it a little less scary. \u00a0By allowing dentistry to be performed you can improve the quality and length of your pet\u2019s life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the best of efforts, most pets can benefit from having a dentistry performed at some point in their life. \u00a0In fact, you should plan for your pet to require a dental cleaning every 1-2 years after 3 years of age (this may vary between animals). \u00a0But what really happens when you drop your furry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pet-dental-care","category-pet-health-wellness"],"yoast_head":"\nBehind Closed Doors\u2026 - Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite the best of efforts, most pets can benefit from having a dentistry performed at some point in their life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Behind Closed Doors\u2026 - Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite the best of efforts, most pets can benefit from having a dentistry performed at some point in their life.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-08T22:54:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/behind-closed-doors\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/behind-closed-doors\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ca07ae0dfdda304203d69e754125e490\"},\"headline\":\"Behind Closed Doors\u2026\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-08T22:54:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/behind-closed-doors\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":440,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Pet Dental Care\",\"Pet Health & Wellness\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/behind-closed-doors\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/behind-closed-doors\\\/\",\"name\":\"Behind Closed Doors\u2026 - Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-08T22:54:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ca07ae0dfdda304203d69e754125e490\"},\"description\":\"Despite the best of efforts, most pets can benefit from having a dentistry performed at some point in their life.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/behind-closed-doors\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/behind-closed-doors\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/behind-closed-doors\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Behind Closed Doors\u2026\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care\",\"description\":\"Our Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ca07ae0dfdda304203d69e754125e490\",\"name\":\"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6c0c9ba9e85772b1cd04236ffe5c19fc5b4460753cabc46f08314e988b43b4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6c0c9ba9e85772b1cd04236ffe5c19fc5b4460753cabc46f08314e988b43b4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6c0c9ba9e85772b1cd04236ffe5c19fc5b4460753cabc46f08314e988b43b4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.animalmedical.net\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/infoanimalmedical-net\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Behind Closed Doors\u2026 - Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care","description":"Despite the best of efforts, most pets can benefit from having a dentistry performed at some point in their life.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Behind Closed Doors\u2026 - Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care","og_description":"Despite the best of efforts, most pets can benefit from having a dentistry performed at some point in their life.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/","og_site_name":"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care","article_published_time":"2011-02-08T22:54:21+00:00","author":"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/"},"author":{"name":"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care","@id":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ca07ae0dfdda304203d69e754125e490"},"headline":"Behind Closed Doors\u2026","datePublished":"2011-02-08T22:54:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/"},"wordCount":440,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Pet Dental Care","Pet Health & Wellness"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/","url":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/","name":"Behind Closed Doors\u2026 - Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-02-08T22:54:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ca07ae0dfdda304203d69e754125e490"},"description":"Despite the best of efforts, most pets can benefit from having a dentistry performed at some point in their life.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/behind-closed-doors\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Behind Closed Doors\u2026"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/","name":"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care","description":"Our Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ca07ae0dfdda304203d69e754125e490","name":"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c0c9ba9e85772b1cd04236ffe5c19fc5b4460753cabc46f08314e988b43b4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c0c9ba9e85772b1cd04236ffe5c19fc5b4460753cabc46f08314e988b43b4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c0c9ba9e85772b1cd04236ffe5c19fc5b4460753cabc46f08314e988b43b4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Animal Medical Hospital & Urgent Care"},"url":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/author\/infoanimalmedical-net\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.animalmedical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}