How practices are preparing for Pet Dental Health Month

A Patterson Veterinary podcast episode spotlights how practices can prepare for National Pet Dental Health Month, featuring Dr. Zack Mills of Tiger Tails Animal Hospital, a Georgia practice he has helped grow over decades. While the episode itself appears positioned as a practical conversation for clinics gearing up for February dental campaigns, the broader backdrop is a profession-wide push to treat dental care as more than a once-a-year promotion. National Pet Dental Health Month has been observed since the 1990s, and industry groups including AVMA and AAHA continue to frame it as an awareness tool, not a substitute for year-round oral health protocols. (tigertailsanimalhospital.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, dental month planning touches both medicine and operations: scheduling, technician utilization, client education, anesthesia workflows, dental radiography, and follow-up home-care recommendations. That matters because periodontal disease is common early in life, with AAHA noting most dogs and cats show some form by age three, and because professional organizations continue to emphasize that effective care means anesthetized, below-the-gumline evaluation and cleaning rather than cosmetic, anesthesia-free scaling. Clinics also have a growing menu of evidence-based home-care products to recommend through the Veterinary Oral Health Council’s accepted-products list. (aaha.org)

What to watch: Expect more practices to use dental month less as a discount event and more as a launch point for year-round compliance, preventive care plans, and stronger pet parent education. (vetsource.com)