Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 467247Universidade Lusófona, Lisbon, Portugal.
Hospital do Gato. Rua Fernão Mendes Pinto 56, Lisbon, Portugal.
J Vet Dent. 2022 Dec;39(4):369-375. doi: 10.1177/08987564221103142. Epub 2022 May 22.
Dental pathology is among the most ubiquitous diseases in cats of all ages. Dental pain is yet to be fully understood in cats and therefore its presence is often missed. To better understand feline dental disease as a pain trigger during routine examination and whether disease severity correlates to the degree of pain, a 6-month prospective study in a cats' only veterinary hospital in Portugal was conducted. Sixty-four cats that randomly presented for different clinical procedures were evaluated. Dental and periodontal abnormalities (primary dental parameters, PDP), as well as clinical signs related to dental pain (secondary dental parameters, SDP), were assessed. All cats underwent an oral cavity examination, upon which, the Feline Acute Pain Scale from Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital (CPS), was used in order to assess pain. Six PDP (periodontal disease, gingival index, calculus index, tooth resorption, tooth fracture and missing teeth) and five SDP (mouth discomfort, halitosis, hypersalivation, difficulty in holding food and several attempts at prehension of food), were compared with CPS pain scores. All SDP were significantly associated to higher CPS pain scores (p < 0.05). The number of missing teeth was significantly associated to higher CPS pain scores (p < 0.0001). A trend was observed between higher CPS pain scores and tooth resorption (p = 0.08). This study concluded that cats with dental disease feel pain during clinical examination and the pain increases as the severity of the disease progresses.
牙科病理学是所有年龄段猫最常见的疾病之一。猫的牙齿疼痛尚未被完全理解，因此常常被忽视。为了更好地理解猫的牙科疾病作为常规检查中的疼痛触发因素，以及疾病的严重程度是否与疼痛程度相关，在葡萄牙的一家专门的猫科动物兽医医院进行了一项为期 6 个月的前瞻性研究。共有 64 只随机出现不同临床症状的猫参与了该研究。评估了猫的牙齿和牙周异常（主要牙齿参数，PDP），以及与牙齿疼痛相关的临床症状（次要牙齿参数，SDP）。所有的猫都接受了口腔检查，随后使用科罗拉多州立大学兽医教学医院的猫急性疼痛量表（CPS）评估疼痛。比较了 6 个 PDP（牙周病、牙龈指数、牙石指数、牙齿吸收、牙齿断裂和牙齿缺失）和 5 个 SDP（口腔不适、口臭、过度流涎、难以咬住食物和多次试图咬住食物）与 CPS 疼痛评分的关系。所有 SDP 与更高的 CPS 疼痛评分显著相关（p < 0.05）。牙齿缺失的数量与更高的 CPS 疼痛评分显著相关（p < 0.0001）。CPS 疼痛评分与牙齿吸收之间存在相关性（p = 0.08）。本研究得出结论，患有牙科疾病的猫在临床检查中会感到疼痛，并且随着疾病的严重程度的增加，疼痛也会增加。
