Don't Solely Rely On Your Vet To Keep Your Cat's Teeth Healthy.
- V Carpio
- Mar 11, 2022
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 22
We smile all the time. A smile can brighten someone’s day, become their best feature, or provide a sense of reassurance and happiness.
Our smile does so much for our well-being and others'. It’s incredibly important, which is why we brush our teeth twice a day with a toothbrush. When it comes to our own dental care, we are proactive in preventing disease.
However, when it comes to our cat’s dental care, we tend to be more reactive to disease.
Anatomically our teeth are practically identical to our feline counterparts (our enamel is slightly thicker), therefore why do most of us not look after our cat's teeth the same way we do our own?
Because we don’t see our cat’s teeth, dental issues can silently build up without us knowing. For many, the thought of using their hands to check their cat’s teeth is intimidating, which is why it’s easy to let dental disease go unnoticed—out of sight, out of mind.
It’s not because we don’t care, but because we assume there’s a lot of technical expertise involved. Therefore, we tend to leave it to the professionals to check our cat’s teeth once a year or every six months.
Let me explain why solely relying on your vet to check and clean your cat’s teeth can lead to more problems down the road.
Before I continue, I want to make it clear that I believe that feline dental hygiene carried out by the vet is very important but it forms part of a larger universe that surrounds your cat’s oral care.
To understand my point, we’ll look at how periodontitis occurs, what happens when your vet performs a dental hygiene and what that larger universe of feline oral care looks like.
Periodontal Disease and Its Impact
Periodontal disease is the progressive inflammation and destruction of the periodontal tissues i.e., the supporting structures that hold the tooth in place.
If left untreated periodontal disease will lead to tooth loss. Imagine a tooth in the centre of a beautiful spider’s web, periodontitis will start to break the strands of the web holding the tooth in place. One broken strand after another, that web will become weaker and weaker, until eventually the tooth falls.
Periodontal disease causes pain and tooth loss for your cat. It begins as harmless bacteria, a lot of which are beneficial to your cat’s oral health. However, when left unchecked, it becomes problematic.
Think of it like a villain origin story, similar to films like The Joker, Cruella, Maleficent, Venom, or Star Wars. These villains don’t start off as evil; they go down a path that, if addressed early on, could have been avoided. But without intervention, they spiral deeper into their darker ways.
Similarly, bacteria in your cat's mouth if left alone, starts creating a film of bacterial and salivary origin around your cat’s teeth known as plaque. The plaque thickens over time creating an environment which favours harmful anaerobic bacterial species, these anaerobic bacteria create by-products and toxins that inflame your cat’s gums and produce gingivitis.
At this stage, intervention would restore your cat’s mouth to clinical health and prevent periodontal disease from ever developing.
But if left unchecked, the inflammation and toxins start damaging the structures that hold the tooth in place, leading to periodontitis (aka periodontal disease). Unfortunately, this stage isn’t reversible and can only be detected through a full dental exam under general anaesthesia at the vet clinic. If you’re worried about putting your cat under anaesthesia, there’s a fantastic company called Basepaws that offers test kits to help you screen your cat’s risk of periodontal disease at home. – check them out.
Why Relying Solely on the Vet Isn’t Enough
The issue with solely relying on your vet to prevent your cat from suffering from dental disease is that your vet only sees your cat once or twice a year. So there is at least a 6-month gap where plaque is building up and damaging your cat’s periodontium. Also when you see your vet they will carry out a conscious oral exam, your cat is stressed for being at the clinic and your vet knows it.
The problem with relying exclusively on your vet to prevent dental disease is that your vet typically only sees your cat once or twice a year. That leaves a gap of six months or more where plaque can build up and damage your cat’s periodontium. Furthermore, when your cat does see the vet, they’ll likely be stressed due to the clinic environment, which limits how long the vet can perform a conscious oral exam.
A study of 1111 cats conducted by the University of Pisa stated that 71% of cats were reported to have been aggressive to a vet at some point.
If, and that’s a big "if," your cat allows the vet to check their teeth, the exam will be a brief oral conscious exam where you vet checks for symmetry; inflammation along the lymph nodes; inflammation along the facial tissues and bones and; checking the gums for inflammation. This conscious oral exam only leads to a tentative diagnosis. This makes it difficult to detect and treat the disease early.
There are issues that can't be detected via the buccal surfaces of the teeth or without radial graphs however can still be treated through oral home care.
Plaque vs. Tartar: What You Need to Know
Calculus (or tartar) is often seen as the mascot of dental disease. Whilst it is true that when plaque mineralises to form calculus it is plaque retentive, calculus is not the cause of gingivitis or periodontitis – plaque is.
Calculus can only be removed by your vet, who will ensure your cat’s teeth are free from it and any other irritants. A dental cleaning performed by the vet is an essential first step in the journey to recovery and should be done annually.
However, if you solely rely on this clean-up as your cat’s solution to better teeth, without any oral home care, you’re essentially wasting your money. Over time, you’ll cause more problems because the disease will flare up more frequently, and you’ll likely need to extract your cat’s teeth eventually.
This is because cats need to eat every day, meaning oral bacteria are constantly present in their mouths, multiplying whether you’re ready for it or not. Plaque can begin to form in as little as 48 hours and calculus can begin to form in as little as two to eight weeks.
For cats with periodontal disease, their gums are in a state of chronic inflammation whereby the epithelial lining of the pocket is continually being inflamed and infected, this constant state of inflammation leads to a cycle of infection.
To break this cycle of inflammation and infection, the source needs to be removed.
That source is plaque. So you can’t effectively remove the source of infection by removing plaque from your cat’s mouth once a year. It’s like trying to get physically fit by going to the gym once a year. Or studying for exams only once a year. Would you only brush your teeth once a year? Of course not—because it simply doesn’t work. Here's why:
The first phase of plaque build-up consists of the dental pellicle forming on the tooth surface. Within hours of a dental cleaning, plaque begins to form on the teeth. Yes, hours—not years! That’s why if you only rely on your vet to clean your cat’s teeth, they’ll stay clean for just a few days at most.
Most people don’t realize that once the vet cleans your cat’s teeth and removes the calculus, plaque actually starts building up even faster.
Calculus attaches to the teeth, so when it’s removed, it leaves slightly rough edges on the surface of the teeth, creating more space for bacteria to accumulate. This speeds up plaque build-up, meaning your cat will need another cleaning at the vet cleaning sooner than expected.
Why Daily Brushing Is Essential
If your cat’s teeth are only cleaned by the vet once a year, you’ll end up spending more money, and you won’t be able to eliminate the infection. The gingivae won’t be able to return to clinical health and tooth extraction will be inevitable.
Never forget that you are your cat’s most important defence.
The treatment of gingivitis and periodontitis involves two stages: periodontal therapy performed by your vet once a year, and most importantly, the follow-up care you provide at home.
Plaque builds up continuously, so you need to brush your cat’s teeth every day. Cat teeth and human teeth are anatomically similar, and bacteria build up in the same way. If you have doubts, try going a year without brushing your teeth—you wouldn’t, and for the same reasons, you shouldn’t let your cat go a day without brushing theirs.
Most of us find out about the importance of brushing our cats’ teeth when our cat is an adult. The first thought that comes to mind is often, “There’s no way Snowball will let me do that!” You’re right to think that—traditional toothbrushing can be stressful for both cats and owners.
When incorporating toothbrushing into your cat's routine it is important to take it slow. Begin to desensitize them to their mouth being touched by stroking them with your fingers across their mouth and providing a treat afterwards. You're making positive association with this action.
Over time you can begin to incorporate the toothpaste and then gradually the toothbrush. It is important to respect their time and be patient.
You can also use a Cat-Friendly toothbrush like the Dental Wand which doesn't require any technical ability from the owner and it engages your cat's instinctual behaviours to drive the actions of brushing teeth. This means that your cat creates positive associations with the brushing experience from the first use; cleaning their teeth, reducing stress-related behaviours and increasing your human-animal bond.
Remember, you are the best line of defence for your cat. Only you can keep your cat safe and keep your cat happy. Whether it is brushing your cats’ teeth with the Dental Wand or with a toothbrush, make sure you start introducing toothbrushing to your cat’s routine.
If you are using the Dental Wand, no technical ability will be needed, you can use it straight away and have positive experiences from the start.
If you opt for a toothbrush, your cat might not like it at first, so take it slow. Start by simply getting them used to the sensation of your finger touching their mouth, then gradually introduce cat toothpaste on your finger, and eventually work up to the toothbrush.
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