YOUR PET'S HEALTH

TARTAR IN DOGS

- Common in most small breeds (Yorkshire Terriers, Poodles,...)

- Visible as a brown layer at the surface of the teeth

- Causes gingivitis and infection of the teeth's roots

- As a preventive measure, have your dog's teeth checked by your veterinarian regularly ; if your dog tends to get tartar easily try to keep it's teeth clean by brushing them about twice a week

- If your dog already has a lot of tartar and gingivitis, the only solution is tooth scaling which your veterinarian will do with a special ultrasound tooth scaler. On photo # 1 you see a dog with tartar before tooth scaling, photo #2 afterwards.

Photo 1.

Photo 2.

Note the gingival retraction caused by the chronic gingivitis. Often such cases need an antibiotic treatment as well ; antiseptic solutions can be useful to disinfect the ginigiva

- Once the roots are infected, it is too late to save the teeth and they need to be extracted (see photos 3 et 4)

Photo 3.

Photo 4.

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