Five Signs Your Pet Needs a Dental Cleaning
- Dallas Duncan
- 8 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Most cat and dog parents know that vets recommend regular at-home teeth brushing as part of routine dental care, but dental cleanings are equally important to prevent oral issues from developing. Also called “dental scaling”, dental cleaning is a more intensive procedure, similar to human dental appointments. A veterinary staff member uses specialized equipment to remove built-up plaque and tartar from the teeth and underneath the gums, going all the way back in the mouth to molars that are difficult to reach otherwise. Teeth are also polished and thoroughly examined by a vet, allowing diagnosis of concerns like pockets — areas around a tooth where food, hair, or other detritus has concentrated and may lead to infection — or teeth in need of extraction.
Dr. Mandy Adams, DVM, and Kaydence Human, a veterinarian and vet assistant, respectively, at Comer Vet, put together a list of five key ways pet parents can be alerted to dental health issues. They encourage pet owners to keep these in mind all year long, not just during February Dental Month:
“If your dog or cat comes to see you and it smells, look in their mouth,” Adams says.
“If they seem painful when they’re trying to eat, that’s another big one,” Human says.
More signs of oral pain in dogs and cats include redness, swelling, or tenderness of the gums, and blood evident on chew toys or bones after being played with.
“Cats don’t like to eat when their gums hurt. They usually will go off feed, or either they will paw at their mouth, or you can even see saliva coming out of certain parts of their mouth, or a bloody discharge that’s in the saliva,” Adams says. “Cats are worse to get the inflamed gums than dogs are.”
Tartar is dark brown or gray, and though it may look like dirt, it’s caked on and unable to be wiped off, Adams says.
“It’ll be maybe at the base of the tooth,” she says. “If people are uncomfortable looking at the back of the mouth, they can flip the lip up and look at the canine. The [teeth] that are going to get it the most are the canine and the back of the mouth.”
Human says in her experience, Yorkshire terriers and Shih Tzus are the most prone breeds to experience dental issues. Dogs with underbites also are at a higher risk of developing tooth problems due to the way their jaws align.
“Definitely too, they’ll get hair that’ll get stuck sometimes: Small dogs that lick at their paws and stuff like that, you’ll just have this really nasty gunk that’s just been building up and sitting there festering,” Human says.
Diet can play a role in risk level, too. Pets that eat wet food tend to need more than an annual dental cleaning, Adams says.
“Honestly, the best is coming to get their yearly wellness exam and having us tell them we are seeing tartar, and let’s go ahead and do something about it,” Adams says.
Human says when taking patient histories, she sees a pattern when it comes to questions about oral health.
“We’ll have a lot of people that come in and I’m like, ‘Have you noticed anything going on in their mouth? Any odor? Do you see anything?’ And people are always like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t look in their mouth’,” she says. “Bring them here. We’ll look in their mouth for you, and be preventative before it’s so bad that they do smell something.”
Adams says Comer Vet’s goal as a staff is to monitor and maintain positive dental health, starting as early as possible with a puppy or kitten’s first visit.
“I would say, generally speaking, to look between 2 and 4 years of age to get their first dental,” Adams says. “If you start out either yearly or even every other year doing a dental, when they’re young, then that’s gonna prevent a whole lot of problems down the road.”
To schedule your pet's dental cleaning at Comer Vet, please give us a call at 706-783-5111 or request an appointment through our online form. During February 2026, dental cleaning procedures are 10% off!
