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Dental Care for Pets with Diabetes Requires Routine COHATs
Concerned about your diabetic pet’s dental health? Read on for expert guidance!
Concerned about your diabetic pet’s dental health? Read on for expert guidance!
While approximately 80% of pets over the age of 3 have some level of dental disease, the percentage is even higher among pets with diabetes. When blood sugar levels are high, the immune system becomes compromised, and the body cannot effectively combat infections. Changes in the bacterial population in the mouth go unchecked by the overtaxed immune system. Additionally, high blood sugar levels can contribute to bacterial infections throughout the body, as the sugar serves as a medium for bacteria to grow. Thus, the bacterial population shifts from a healthy one to an unhealthy one and flourishes.
Conversely, dental disease in diabetic pets can increase blood sugar levels. Pain, stress, and infection cause a rise in hormones that increase glucose levels. This leads to progressively higher insulin doses to try and regulate diabetes. Dental disease in diabetic pets creates a cycle that, if left unchecked, can lead to severe oral pain, infection, tooth loss, and uncontrolled blood sugar levels.
While prevention and treatment of dental disease are important for all pets, they are especially crucial for our diabetic companions. Treatment and regulation of diabetes should ideally include a plan to maintain good oral health. This includes some form of dental home care and annual or biannual COHATs.
If we wait until there are signs of dental disease in the mouth, not only will this impact the overall health of the patient, but it will also increase the time your pet will need to be under anesthesia in order to address the problem. Ideally, regular dental care with short anesthetic events are much safer for our compromised patients. Patient fasting times, insulin doses, and blood sugar monitoring help to keep anesthesia as safe as possible.
If you have a diabetic pet, we highly recommend talking to your veterinarian about an oral health assessment, prevention, and treatment plan. This will likely include a dental procedure under anesthesia (COHAT) to fully assess the mouth, clean the teeth, and plan to treat any existing disease and prevent further disease. If you would like to have an oral health assessment at Mainely Veterinary Dentistry, schedule your consultation today!
