Understanding the stages of canine periodontal disease and appropriate treatment options enables owners and veterinarians to make welfare-optimised decisions about dental intervention.
Advanced dental disease welfare requires understanding that clinical examination significantly underestimates dental disease burden. Most periodontal disease is below the gumline and invisible without dental radiography. Pets with advanced periodontal disease often show no obvious signs of pain - they cannot tell owners they are suffering - yet are experiencing chronic low-grade pain that affects quality of life. Treatment decisions based on appearance alone frequently leave painful disease untreated. Welfare-optimal dental care involves full-mouth radiography under anaesthesia, staging of disease severity, appropriate treatment including extraction of non-salvageable teeth, and post-operative analgesia. The welfare benefit of treating dental disease is immediate and significant.