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Have you noticed a gray, purple, pink, brown, or black tint to one of your dog’s teeth lately? Tooth discoloration in your dog’s mouth can happen for a number of reasons and should be checked out by a veterinary dentist right away.

Our doctors and staff at Animal Dental Care and Oral Surgery teach hundreds of veterinarians and technicians each year at our Colorado Springs facility. Four to six days each month students from around the country come to our clinic at the Veterinary Specialty Center to attend our popular veterinary dental program. 

The number one thing to realize concerning the detection of oral pain in our pets is that both dogs and cats do a great job of hiding their pain. In the face of oral pain, dogs and cats will often continue to eat well and act normally. It is not unusual in our practice to discover significant painful issues when a patient is under anesthesia that were not detectable on the awake oral exam. 

Cats start out with 30 adult teeth. Ideally, they should keep all 30 teeth throughout their life. Unfortunately, genetics and a lack of willingness for many cats to comply with daily oral home care lead to a need for tooth extraction.