At the Maine Greyhound Placement kennel we occasionally get a Greyhound off the track that has excessive gum recession. Greyhounds tend not to have pockets around their teeth, instead they tend to have gum erosion. Not knowing who may adopt this particular Grey, and at what level of dental care it may receive, I tend to have those teeth extracted. This allows the gums to heal and eliminates the concern of placing this Grey with someone who may not keep up with proper dental care.

The Bridgton Veterinary Hospital and Dr. Wheeler not only specialize in Greyhounds but do advanced dental procedures not normally performed in most veterinary hospitals; such as crowns, orthodontics, root canals, and vital pulpotomies. Due to Dr. Wheeler's influence, and hands-on prophylactic procedures I have done, I have quickly come to realize how important dental care is for any pet. Eighty-five percent of all dogs over the age of three have some level of periodontal disease. Being at the hospital so much I have also observed Luanne the Dental Tech working on many cats, which seem to have the worst dental problem of any pets I have seen.

Proper dental care not only makes for better breath of your pet, but also effects its long-term health. Continued bacterial intake from dental problems can shorten your pets life by putting an extra load on their kidneys and other vital organs.

I also believe hundreds if not thousands of pets across the country end up in shelters due to aggression (bites) shown to their owners, when in fact they are in severe pain. I feel a fairly good percentage of these pets aren't feeling well from a dental problem or other easily treated condition. We have had a Greyhound returned to us after being a great family pet for years. I asked the owner to have the Grey checked out by their local vet for health problems. She was returned to the kennel and was sensitive in the mouth area. I did a dental cleaning on her and the dental tech took full mouth x-rays. Luanne found a fractured tooth, and root that was infected. We had to extract that tooth, let her heal, and she is now happily finishing her retirement in comfort.

As many of you know Maine Greyhound Placement Service owns an anesthesia machine, ultra-sonic scaler, and performs complete prophylaxis (dentals) on many of its Greyhounds. Dr. Wheeler was working with a veterinary colleague, Dr. Max J. Herman VMD, who is board certified in animal dentistry. Dr. Wheeler invited me to meet Dr. Herman and I happily accepted. I showed him the dental equipment that Maine Greyhound Placement Service had purchased and he made some comments and suggestions.

Dr. Herman was not particularly impressed with my aggressive way of extracting troubled teeth. After explaining that I'd rather have a tooth (or teeth) extracted that have badly receded gums because I have no way of knowing if the new adopter will follow up with brushing (which every dog and cat should receive), Dr. Herman explained other options that could be used for periodontal disease. One of the easiest suggestions was to use Oxyfresh as an additive in their drinking water.

Oxyfresh is totally safe and been used for humans for years. It helps kill bacteria around the teeth and gum line to not only improve the animal's breath but also slows the progression of periodontal disease. It's not that we didn't believe him, but "seeing" is believing for us.

Amber's Greyhound Gina (a ten-year-old female) was scheduled for some extraction and this seemed to be the perfect time to test the effectiveness of Oxyfresh as an alternative. Instead of extraction, I gave her a prophylaxis then added Oxyfresh to all her drinking water. Amber continued brushing but the difference of using Oxyfresh was quite dramatic. The plaque was much slower to return and her breath was dramatically improved. Because of the results we saw with a Greyhound with severe gum recession like Gina, it was well worth using Oxyfresh on all six of our sight hounds. Oxyfresh also makes a pet gel for dental brushing. We find this most helpful when used with our CET pet toothpaste. Many of Bridgton Veterinary Hospital's clients are using Oxyfresh as an additive for other pets as well.

NOTE: Oxyfresh is available in AAGI’s adoption trailer. It works!!