Interview with Dr. Brad Quest on Pet Oral Health

Wrapping up pet dental month with Dr. Brad Quest

February is recognized as Pet Dental Month; to provide pet parents with useful information to tackle pet oral health, BSM Partners sat down with Dr. Brad Quest, DVM, a pet oral care industry pioneer, to get the best advice.

Dr. Quest has worked extensively in nutrition and dental research, designing and implementing clinical product testing, as well as providing veterinary educational training sessions. As a devoted veterinarian and pet parent, Dr. Quest cares deeply about the health and longevity of his dogs and pets in general.

He enthusiastically shared his time to answer some questions to better understand the challenges around pet dental care and potential solutions that his innovative knowledge and services can provide.

Dr. Quest, when I travel and people ask me what I do, and I tell them I am a consultant and formulator in the pet food industry, they always ask me what food I recommend for their cats and dogs. What about you? What do people ask you when they realize what you do?

When asked, “What should I feed my pet?” I always ask first: “What are you currently feeding your pet?” Some pet owners can be concerned about the safety of the food they feed their pet, but now more than ever, the quality of pet food is probably the best it has ever been. Most people who formulate pet food are well-qualified people with a lot of knowledge, and experience in formulation and nutrition. An older philosophy was to feed a pet the same diet throughout their life but it is more complicated than that because it is not a one-size-fits-all. Choosing a pet food that is right for that specific pet is important.

I also get asked questions about oral health and dental products. Unfortunately, from my experience, by the time the pet is diagnosed and treated for oral issues, there is already quite a bit of damage done. That’s why the key to dental health is prevention and knowledge! To wrap this question up, I tell pet parents to make sure their pet gets a complete oral evaluation twice a year. Take this time to address any issues or concerns with the veterinarian and to treat any oral health issues as quickly as possible; to help prevent them from leading to more serious problems.

 

Dr. Quest’s dogs, Hank and Molly

 

If you had a magic wand and could change one misconception about pet oral health, what would it be?

For pet food brands and manufacturers that want to launch a new product to help pet oral health, I would recommend looking into doing dental efficacy testing and getting their product VOHC [Veterinary Oral Health Council]-certified. This council is an independent international group of board-certified veterinary dentists, which has pre-determined dental testing protocols to test the efficacy of dental and oral health products. If the product performs to the VOHC standards, then the company can display the VOHC seal on the packaging and advertising media.

I have probably conducted more VOHC studies than anyone in the pet food industry, so I have a pretty good understanding of the value and quality of these dental studies. When you see the VOHC seal, you know that the product really works.

What is your special routine for dental health with your pets?

I give my dogs a variety of VOHC approved treats. I have routine oral exams performed and depending on how their oral exams look, we address any problems that are found.

Routine oral exams can be even more critical with smaller dogs, as they have smaller mouths with the same number of teeth. This means there is a higher risk of what we call overcrowding of teeth in their mouth, which can lead to a higher risk of plaque and tartar buildup.

 

In your opinion, why is pet dental health so important?

Because what you can actually see with dental disease can be the tip of the iceberg. There are human studies showing that poor oral health can lead to liver problems, kidney problems, and heart problems for example. There are not as many formal studies like these for pets, but there could be a link between poor oral health and other organ health problems in pets.

Since a lot of dogs and cats are typically very stoic compared to people, they don’t necessarily exhibit pain symptoms when something in their mouth might be bothering them. We might not know that they are in pain, and by the time we discover it might be already advanced. Nobody wants their pets to be in pain. This is why I say when it comes to pet oral health: prevention is key!

Is there anything else you wish we would have talked about?

Safety! It’s another very important aspect to keep in mind. Each pet parent knows their pets better than anybody else. Make sure when you pick a product that you watch and monitor your pet as they eat the treat. Wild Canids typically grasp, tear and swallow. That’s why there are a lot of these behaviors in a lot of our pet dogs. Monitor your pet to try to make sure they don’t swallow the treats and chews whole. It is best to pick a dental chew that will readily dissolve should a dog swallow a large piece or even a whole chew.  If you are not sure then I recommend contacting the company to ask them if they have done solubility testing with their dental chews. If a chew is soluble, meaning it will readily dissolve in the stomach and intestines there should not be a problem if a large piece is swallowed.

Another safety issue that I have worked with is the hardness of certain treats. Not many people know this, but a dog’s tooth enamel is thinner than a human’s. The enamel is the covering of the tooth that gives it the hard structural integrity to be able to bite into things without breaking. This is important because the bite force of even a very small dog can be significantly higher than that of a human. That’s why I caution people to not feed products that are too hard because they may result in tooth fractures, which are painful to your pet and expensive to repair. As always, if you have any doubts, take the treat or dental chew to your veterinarian for a recommendation.

Last question to wrap up our time together: If you could write anything on a billboard that everyone would see, what would it say?

I would add the latest data from the American Veterinary Medical Association. They found out 80% of dogs over age 3 have some sort of oral dental health problem and over 70% of cats have oral dental health problems. I would think that this type of data would make an impression on pet parents, and it would help motivate them to get veterinary exams and to follow up with good prevention for these problems.

 

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About the Author

Émilie Mesnier holds a master’s degree in food science from France and has been dedicated to the pet food industry since 2007. She is committed to leverage her almost two decades of experience to pets and animals in general, the pet food industry, efficiencies, palatability, environmental stewardship, responsible consumption, and international expansion. Passionate about continuous improvement, sustainable living and innovation, Émilie actively applies her knowledge to both her professional and personal life. In early 2025, Émilie will return to her roots in France to bring BSM Partners’ full suite of consulting services closer to clients across the European market.