Dental Care at BVC

Veterinarians have looked after the dental care of animals throughout the years, from checking for normal dentition on puppies, monitoring cleanliness on annual exams or even filing teeth on horses. Keeping our pet's teeth clean requires a multi-modal approach. Ideally, daily brushing is the best way to ensure that tartar doesn't buildup over the years, leading to infection and tooth loss. This isn't easy for everyone, however. Other options include dental diets, supplements, water additives and/or annual prophylactic cleanings under general anesthesia.

Our small animal vets and techs at

Border Veterinary Clinic have kept up training on dental procedures and improved on our tools over the years to provide excellent dental care. The problem with providing dental care in clinic is that most pets don't sit still enough for a thorough dental scale and polish - some barely allow a good exam. When a cat or dog comes in for a dental, they go under a full general anesthesia which we manage as safely as possible like any surgery. This allows us to do the best job possible in caring for those teeth.

Dental X-ray is a relatively new tool being used in our clinic done with every dental now, to look for unseen problems and help us manage issues effectively. Our new dental machine allows us to do an excellent job of scaling and polishing, but also helps make major extractions on multi-rooted teeth easier - on the vet and the pet! Most major procedures involve extraction of severely affected teeth to keep a health mouth, but referral is available for more specialized procedures if desired. If it's just a routine cleaning, we love providing before and after pictures of those teeth you don't always get a good look at!