DENTAL PLAQUE PREVENTION AND CONTROL IN DOGS AND CATS: CURRENT AND EMERGING CONCEPTS

Periodontal disease is very common disease of dogs and cats where interplay between dysbiotic microbial communities organized in dental plaque and aberrant immune responses play the most important roles. To prevent periodontal disease development and/or progression, dental plaque must be disrupted as often as possible. This is primarily achieved by mechanical (active) means, combining professional oral care and daily tooth brushing at home. If an adequate technique and timing of tooth brushing is difficult to achieve, other active and passive oral homecare measures are available or being explored. Preprečevanje in nadzorovanje zobnih oblog pri psih in mačkah: trenutni in novi koncepti Izvleček: Parodontalna bolezen je ena izmed najpogostejših bolezni psov in mačk. Pri nastanku bolezni pomembno vlogo igrata predvsem mikrobiota ustne votline, organizirana v zobni plak, in imunski odgovor gostitelja. Preventiva in upočasnjevanje napredovanja parodontalne bolezni temeljita na preprečevanju nastanka zobnega plaka in/ali njegovem rednem odstranjevanju, ki je zlasti mehansko in vključuje profesionalno ustno higieno v kombinaciji z rednim dnevnim ščetkanjem zob. Če ustreznega dnevnega ščetkanja zob pri živali ni mogoče zagotoviti, pa ustno nego doma lahko zagotovimo z drugimi aktivnimi ali pasivnimi načini preprečevanja nastajanja zobnih oblog; nekateri načini so dobro opisani, nekateri pa se šele razvijajo. Ključne besede: parodontalna bolezen; zobni plak; psi; mačke; ustna nega