Dental disease is the most common health problem in adult cats, affecting over 70% of cats over 3 years old. It causes chronic oral pain that most cats suffer in silence.
Dental disease causes chronic oral pain in millions of cats whose suffering goes unrecognized. Cats with severe periodontal disease or tooth resorption may have been in pain for months or years before diagnosis. The discovery that a cat's behavior normalizes after dental treatment — increased grooming, more playfulness, better appetite — retrospectively reveals how significantly they were compromised. Veterinary dental examinations without anaesthesia and dental radiographs cannot adequately assess the extent of dental disease; many painful lesions are invisible without radiographs. Routine annual dental assessments under anaesthesia with full-mouth radiographs — increasingly considered the standard of care — catch disease early and prevent unnecessary prolonged suffering. The welfare case for proactive dental care is compelling.