Dental disease is the most common health problem in cats, affecting over 70% of cats by age 3. It causes chronic pain that most owners do not recognize.
Dental pain in cats is massively underrecognized because cats continue eating and behaving relatively normally even with significant oral pathology. Post-dental-procedure behavior changes, including increased activity, playfulness, and appetite, often reveal how much cats were suffering beforehand. Tooth resorption causes severe pain as dentin is exposed and nerve endings are stimulated. Financial barriers to anesthetic dental procedures leave many cats in chronic pain. The welfare impact of dental disease across the companion cat population represents an enormous and largely invisible burden of suffering that simple prevention could address.