• August 28, 2024

Majority of U.S. Dogs and Cats Suffer from Dental Disease

It's estimated that most dogs and cats in the US suffer from dental disease. In fact, over half of all dogs and cats will be diagnosed with dental-related problems in 2023, according to Banfield Pet Hospital, part of Mars Veterinary Health, which provides preventive veterinary care.

Banfield Pet Hospital crunched the numbers on over 3 million pets seen at its 1,000+ hospital locations across the country to get a handle on the state of pet oral health in the United States. They looked at which dog and cat breeds are most affected by oral health problems and by state.

In 2023, 73% of dogs seen at Banfield were diagnosed with dental-related problems, while 64% of cats were diagnosed with such problems.

Banfield says that poor oral hygiene can cause problems like pain, excessive drooling, bleeding, and reluctance to eat or drink. It's also thought that more serious gum disease in pets may be linked to other health problems elsewhere in the body, including heart disease and kidney disease. The study, which was based on Banfield data, found that:

1. Cats with advanced periodontal disease were 1.5 times more likely than normal to develop chronic kidney disease;

2. Dogs with advanced periodontal disease were 2.3 times more likely than normal to develop chronic kidney disease and 6.3 times more likely than normal to develop endocarditis (infection of the heart valves).

Research by the Waltham Petcare Science Institute using Banfield data has found that a dog's size might affect how likely they are to have oral health problems.

One study found that extra small breed dogs (weighing less than 14.3 lbs) were up to five times more likely to be diagnosed with periodontal disease than giant breeds (weighing less than 55 lbs).

A new paper has looked at research into the prevalence of "shark teeth" – or stubborn deciduous teeth (PDT) – in dogs. It found that PDT is significantly more common in extra small breeds compared to other breeds, and that PDT can lead to bite inaccuracies and gum disease. The latest data from Banfield backs up these findings. When we looked at the most popular dog breeds seen at Banfield last year, we found that eight of the top 10 breeds with the worst oral-related health problems were smaller dogs. These were the Beagle, Terrier, Dachshund, Chihuahua, Yorkshire Terrier, Maltese, Miniature Schnauzer, Labrador Retriever, Shih Tzu, and Pomeranian.

Banfield's data showed that 79.7% of terriers treated at its hospitals in the last year, as well as 70% of golden retrievers, 68.3% of Siberian huskies and 62.5% of bulldogs, were diagnosed with oral health problems.