As a pet parent, you want to make sure that your pet is healthy and strong. This includes taking proper care of your pet's oral health. Unfortunately, despite your best efforts, there will be instances when your dog or cat will require oral surgery. Here are a few of the most common reasons why a pet will require some type of oral surgery.

Remove Damaged Teeth

One of the most common reasons your dog or cat might require oral surgery is severe dental decay or damaged teeth. Severe dental decay and periodontal disease can occur in older pets or pets who do not receive the proper oral care during the early stages of tooth decay. When the teeth become so damaged or decayed, the teeth will need to be removed.

Often, the removal of the teeth is necessary because the pet is in severe pain or might even begin losing weight because they cannot eat. Tooth removal will require your pet to be sedated in order for the dentist to surgically remove the teeth.

Jaw Fractures

Unfortunately, if your dog or cat's jaw is seriously injured, which can occur for a number of reasons, your pet might require oral surgery. Often, the upper or lower jawbone is broken because the pet is struck by a vehicle, is attacked by a larger animal, or even because the pet's periodontal disease is so severe that an infection spreads to the jawbone.

Depending upon the severity of the injury, the dog might require metal plates or screws in their mouth to repair the jaw. The recovery time after jaw fracture surgery can take several weeks and your dog will need to be sedated to perform the procedure.

Oral Tumors

Finally, if oral tumors grow in your dog or cat's mouth, your pet might require surgery to either biopsy the tumor or remove the tumor. The tumor in your pet's mouth could be benign, meaning that the tumor is not cancerous. For example, one type of tumor that can grow in a dog's mouth is an epulis, which is caused by infection and there can be one or multiple of these tumors that grow on the gums.

Unfortunately, your pet could have cancerous tumors that depending upon the recommendations of your veterinarian might need to be removed. If the tumors found in the mouth are cancerous, your veterinarian will run additional tests to determine if the cancer has spread to other parts of your pet's body.

There are several instances when your pet might require oral surgery. If you have any more questions about pet oral surgery, contact your veterinarian.