Find the Best Dentist for Your Dog

Introduction

Preventive checkups and timely treatment for canine dental problems are crucial to maintaining your dogs’ dental and oral health. You must regularly brush your dog’s teeth and provide appropriate dog food to boost your dog’s dental health in your pet care routine. 

At the same time, taking your dogs to pet dentists will ensure early detection of dental issues, and your dogs can receive proper treatment to overcome them.

This article takes you through the most convenient method to search for the best dentists for your dogs. You will learn about the simplest way to find a dentist and schedule an appointment for dental checkups and cleanups for your furry friends.

Why are Regular Dental Checkups and Cleanups Necessary?

Regular dental checkups and cleanups must be a part of your pet care routine. Periodic dental checkups are essential, along with the regular brushing of your dog’s teeth, selection of dog food to boost dental health, and various other care parameters you should continue at home.

Most notably, as a specialist, a pet dentist examines your dog’s teeth and mouth, it would be easy to detect any possible issues at an early stage. 

Dog’s dental care needs may vary according to its life stages. Teething puppies require extra care. Similarly, senior dogs require additional dental care to prevent dental issues. You may also have to start immediate treatment if the dentist finds any problem. 

Therefore, you should never avoid periodical checkups.

Common Canine Dental Issues: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment by Pet Dentists

Let’s take a quick look at the common dental problems among dogs, their causes, symptoms, and to diagnose and treat them:

Gum Disease

Gum disease occurs due to the accumulation of bacteria or plaque on the gum line.

Causes

Lack of oral hygiene is the primary cause of gum disease among dogs. Some dog breeds or dogs of a particular age group are more prone to this dental issue.

There are two types of gum disease:

• Gingivitis

The infection and inflammation due to plaque deposits are limited to the gum line. Dogs up to the age of 2 years get gingivitis more often.

• Periodontitis

In this type of gum disease, the inflammation is more severe. Your dog’s gums, ligaments, and bones may also get infected. Dogs in the age group of 4 to 6 years are more suspected to get periodontitis.

Symptoms

• Bleeding gums
• Yellow and brown teeth with swollen gums
• Loose or lost teeth
• Bad breath
• Loss of appetite
• Drooling
• Difficulty eating
• Excessive pawing at the mouth.

Diagnosis

Pet dentists conduct a thorough physical examination of your dog’s mouth to find swollen gums and tartar deposits along the gum line. If required, they perform a complete oral exam under general anesthesia. A dental X-Ray helps them to determine the severity of the deterioration of the supporting structure of a dog’s teeth.

Treatment

The dentist conduct a thorough dental cleanup, usually under general anesthesia, to avoid pain.

They usually schedule extractions and other dental treatments at the same time.

Prevention

For your dog’s oral hygiene, start brushing its teeth while they are puppies. Provide dry dog food so that a mechanical cleaning process will leave minimal residue plaque on its gums. 

Endodontic Disease

Several dental conditions fall into this criterion, including tooth decay, injuries, tooth fracture, and enamel abnormality. 

Causes

• External trauma – like an aggressive fight or an accident, 
• Due to biting inappropriate objects.

Symptoms

• Painful teeth
• A tooth with reddish-brown, gray, or purple color
• Your dog resists touching or tapping a tooth.
• A visible tooth fracture
• A red or black hole in the crown
• Swelling on your dog’s face
• Loss of appetite

Diagnosis

The dental clinic will take a dental X-Ray of your dog’s mouth to check for irregularities in the dental structure.

Treatment

• Tooth extraction or 
• A root canal procedure.

Apart from these, your dog may have developmental abnormalities in its teeth, such as unerupted teeth, an improper bite, and enamel defects. 

Trauma to your dog’s face, dental structure, or teeth will require immediate medical attention and treatment. A dentist will diagnose various dental issues by conducting a physical exam and a few tests. They decide on the line of treatment and carry out dental surgeries if required.

What is the Easiest Way to Find a Pet Dentist Near You?

Now, let’s come to the eternal question every dog owner may come across – how to find the best dentist for your dog? 

Finding a dentist with extensive experience and technical capabilities to diagnose and treat dental problems would have been dependent on recommendations by your known dog owners around. 

It may be practical to ask your neighbors, friends, and colleagues that own a dog about it. If you know a general veterinarian, he may refer you to a dental specialist. The second significant aspect is accessibility to a vet clinic that offers dentistry as a specialty service. 

The best solution to resolve all these pain points would be to find pet dentists in your area through our platform – GreatVet – the most trusted online vet discovery platform. 

Let’s drill down the steps to find the best dentist near you for your dog:

How to Search for Pet Dentists in Your Area?

First, type in the URL: https://greatvet.com to launch our website in your browser. You can use any internet-connected, browser-enabled device to access our website. 

You find a search box with two visible partitions on the homepage: ‘Search by’ on your left-hand side and ‘City, County, Neighborhood, or Zip’ on your right-hand side.

Choose from City, County, Neighborhood, or Zip on the left-hand side and enter the name of your location on the right-hand side. As you start typing the location name, you will get relevant suggestions in the dropdown. You can click on the desired location name from the dropdown or type in the word entirely.

As you click on the search button or press ‘Enter,’ you get a list of veterinary clinics in the particular location.

Can You Find Location-Specific Vet Clinics?

Apart from the search-box-based method explained above, there are a few other options to list veterinary clinics and animal hospitals in your desired location.

• You can click on your state or province on the interactive map and click the city or metro area appearing on the screen.
• We have given a list of cities and metro areas under ‘Browse Vets by Location.’ Click on the desired city or metro area enlisted there.
• Scroll down to the footer on our website to see the ‘Find Veterinarian Near Me’ option. Click on the link to get a curated list of veterinary clinics and animal hospitals based on your device location. Usually, the search results include vet clinics about 30 miles from your current location.

When you have the list of veterinary clinics in the desired area, it’s time to refine your search to find the vet clinics offering pet dentistry as a vet specialty service.

We have provided a ‘Specialties’ filter on your left-hand side for your convenience. Scroll down a bit to see the Specialty filter. We have covered the following vet specialties on our platform:

• Anesthesia, 
• Animal Wellness, 
• Dentistry, 
• Behavior, 
• Dermatology, and 
• Nutrition 

Select the ‘Dentistry’ specialty filter by clicking on the option. You get a curated list of vet clinics.

Browse clinic profiles to get additional information

As the specialist dental clinic’s vet clinics appear on your screen, you see the ‘View Profile’ option (a green button) with every clinic’s name. Click or tap on the ‘View Profile’ button to get some additional information about the particular vet clinic.

You can have the address, contact number, website, and driving directions to the desired clinic through the clinic profile on our platform.

You can also gather information regarding if the clinic accepts new patients, accepts walk-ins, practice type, and if the clinic offers emergency accommodation to pets. 

We provide GreatVet Reputation Scores based on reviews and rankings to the particular clinic on popular online channels and our verification criteria. 

A good GreatVet Score indicates that:

• The clinic is well-equipped, 
• It has experienced vets to take care of your pets, and 
• Most pet owners appreciate their services.

How to Schedule an Appointment for Your Dog?

We currently provide appointment scheduling options through the clinic profiles of our premier partners. For other clinic profiles, you can use their contact number or website to schedule an appointment for your dog.

Make effective use of the driving directions provided on the clinic profile to reach the clinic conveniently. 

GreatVet is committed to bridging the gap between experienced and best-rated veterinarians and concerned pet parents like you. We believe that every pet should receive proper medical attention whenever required. 

We have designed an infographic to summarize the process of finding the best dentist for your dog. We hope that the graphical illustrations and crisp description will help you understand and remember the steps to find the best pet dentist near you. Take a look at the infographic below:

• The Bottom Line

  The article and infographic describe the steps to find the best dentist for your dog in your area, making the most effective use of our online vet discovery platform. Our platform helps you find appropriate vet clinics as per the care needs of your pets. Use our platform to find other vet specialties and emergency accommodation for your pets whenever required. 

Disclaimer: The content on the site is for educational purposes only, and it does not provide medical advice. The shared information must not be treated as a substitute for or alternative for medical practitioner advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Regarding any concerns about your pet’s health, seeking veterinary guidance is of utmost necessity. Each pet has specific health, fitness & nutrition needs. Do not disregard, avoid or delay pet health-related advice from veterinarians based on reading the information provided on this site.