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The dog days of summer are upon us - but don't think we've forgotten about cats!

This month we'd like to highlight feline dental health. As many of you know from first-hand experience, it can be incredibly difficult to brush a cat's teeth - no matter what you try, some pets simply will not allow their mouths to be handled. As a result, bacteria builds up in the mouth, and over time can infiltrate the bone and gums, causing two different types of reactions: periodontal disease and resorptive lesions.

Periodontal disease occurs when bacteria infiltrates the bone surrounding the gums, causing the bone line to recede and the gums to detach/fall inward. In the image below, you can see that the bone line is below the crown of all three teeth, where it would normally be resting. The hole between the roots of the teeth (looking like a pair of pants) is also evidence of bone loss. In this case, the doctor determined that all of the teeth in this image needed to be extracted because greater than 50% of that support was lost.

For added reference, below is an x-ray of two healthier teeth, where the bone line touches the crown of the teeth at the proper location. (There is a slight periodontal disease on the right tooth, but not enough to indicate that it would need to be extracted). You can also see that the structure of the teeth is intact, with the ligaments appearing full and healthy.

This leads us to the second kind of oral malady that affects cats - tooth resorption. This condition also occurs due to bacteria infiltrating the tooth, but the effects are completely different: tooth resorption essentially implodes the structure of the tooth from the inside, causing the gums to attempt to re-absorb the bone. This is an idiopathic disease, meaning we don't know why it develops in some cats and not others - but it is as painful as it sounds! In the example x-ray below, you can see the bone surrounding the nerve on the right side of the leftmost tooth looks like it was cracked with a hammer, leaving the nerve exposed. This occurs from the inside out - it's like someone put a stick of dynamite inside a tooth. (YIKES!) There is also significant periodontal disease affecting this tooth as well (obviously, this tooth needed to be extracted!).

So, what can be done to take care of your cat's teeth? As far as at-home care, unfortunately the answer is not a lot. Although tooth brushing is effective for preventing/delaying periodontal disease, it does not stop tooth resorption from occuring - nothing does, in fact. The best thing you can do is bring your cat in for annuyal oral health checkups, so the doctors can monitor the progression of any disease and advise if a cleaning/extractions would be advisable.