Periodontitis in Dogs

Abstract

People and dogs share much in common, including their susceptibility to diseases of the mouth, teeth and gums. Increasingly, the specialists are diagnosing canine periodontal diseases, which if left untreated, can result in severe diseases affecting major organs as the kidney, liver and heart. In this study, 21 dogs older than the age of 2 years, with periodontitis were evaluated. The following aspects were investigated: dental plaque, tartar presence, the gum examination (for evidence of bleeding, gingival inflammation, retraction or hyperplasia), breath smell, periodontal probing, furcation examination and the mobility of teeth. The premolars and incisors were the teeth the most frequently affected by the periodontal lesions. At all dogs dental plaque was evidenced by chromatic method (Ronddels Blue Kit), with the values of plaque index between 1 and 3 (the mean was 2,14). At the gum examination the most often lesions were: bleeding, gingival inflammation and gingival retraction. The periodontal probing showed that the mean pocket depth was 4,0 mm and approximately 57,14% of them had the depth of more than 3 mm. The deepest periodontal pockets were found in canine teeth. The mean occurrence of gingival bleeding after probing was 38,09 % and 71,42% from investigated dogs had a bad smelling breath. The furcation examination was found the alveolar bone loss in certain multirooted teeth. The dimensions of this space was measured with a periodontal calibrate probe. The mean percentage of severe furcation lesions was 19,04 % (60% of bone loss) and tooth mobility (in sagital, transversal or axial plane) was seen in 28,57% of the teeth . Finally, we had found that 33,33 % from examined dogs had incipient periodontitis, 38,09 % from them had moderate periodontitis and 28,56% were shown severe periodontitis. Acknowledgment. The experiments from this study were supported by PCE (IDEI) 444/2008.