Dentistry

Frequently, dental cases present to animal hospitals for treatment of halitosis. Daily tooth brushing, although a noble idea, is rarely practiced. Clients rarely see their pet's teeth. They bring their dog or cat to the veterinarian to have the teeth cleaned and polished. Hopelessly effected teeth are extracted without the client ever seeing the true extent of disease or areas of special attention for home care. Thanks to digital photography and inexpensive software, bringing your client into his or her pet's mouth is now within every practitioner's reach.

A dental extraction should be considered an end-stage procedure. When teeth are salvageable, we can go to great lengths to avoid extraction. Unfortunately, in many cases extraction is advisable and necessary.

To stop the bleeding associated with the extraction of deciduous teeth before surgery, place gauze over the empty socket and apply pressure by wrapping the mouth with Vetrap (3M).

Dr. Brad Rosonke, owner of Hillside Animal Hospital in Scottsdale, Ariz., has little interest in dentistry. But he knows that offering dental services means better care for his patients. His solution: Hire a dental resident--in his case, Dr. Peter Bates--to visit his practice on a regular basis. "This is a win-win-win situation," says Dr. Rosonke. "Dr. Bates needs to see more patients during his residency, I'm now free to see other patients while he's taking care of dental issues, and our clients get more complete care for their pets."

As many of you are aware, February is national pet dental health month. In the past few years, many of us have ratcheted up our dental care skills, yet I often feel we still don't always do all the dental procedures our patients need.

Tooth resorption is the most common dental problem in cats, with studies worldwide showing a prevalence rate (in cats presented for dental problems) of up to 75%.

As a small-animal practitioner, you spend a good portion of your day diagnosing and treating periodontal disease. Unfortunately, due to differences in salivary pH, our patients accumulate plaque and develop calculus five times faster than people. Research shows that 80% of dogs and 70% of cats show signs of gingival disease by the age of 3 according to the American Veterinary Dental Society. Periodontal disease can cause halitosis and pain and may be related to kidney and heart disease.

As a small-animal practitioner, you spend a good portion of your day diagnosing and treating periodontal disease. Unfortunately, due to differences in salivary pH, our patients accumulate plaque and develop calculus five times faster than people. Research shows that 80% of dogs and 70% of cats show signs of gingival disease by the age of 3 according to the American Veterinary Dental Society. Periodontal disease can cause halitosis and pain and may be related to kidney and heart disease.

Chronic ulcerative paradental stomatitis (CUPS) is a painful condition in dogs that is also known as ulcerative stomatitis, idiopathic stomatitis, and lymphocytic-plasmacytic stomatitis.

Most pets will benefit from a yearly dental cleaning and oral examination under anesthesia. When patients are discharged following a professional dental cleaning, a home-care program should be part of the take-home instruction sheet.

Local anesthesia and regional anesthetic nerve blocks have been used for decades in human dentistry, but incorporating intraoral regional anesthetic blocks into veterinary dental and oral surgical procedures did not gain acceptance until the mid-1990s.

At least 10-percent bone loss must be present to notice periapical disease radiographically.

When you were in veterinary school, how many hours did you devote to studying dentistry?

While performing dental exams, we found that holding the flews back with a spay hook helped.

Coming in September: Interpreting endodontic X-rays will be the subject of the next article in Dr. Bellows' radiography series.

Dentistry, including dental anesthesia, should be no less than 4.5 percent of each month's revenues.

Coming in August: Dr. Carmichael will complete his discussion on feline oral diseases including odontoclastic resorptive lesions, treatment options for fractured teeth, feline gingivitis/stomatitis syndrome and feline oral neoplasia.

All small animal practitioners routinely take radiographs of patients where indicated. Radiographs simply put, help the veterinarian evaluate the patient.

A tip to protect fragile dental scaler tips.

Lay "technicians" practicing equine dentistry in Oregon may have to pack their bags, transporting their services to a state where they're welcome.

Periodontal inflammation is the most common syndrome affecting small animals. In no other area of the body can the dedicated veterinarian and dental team make a lifelong difference in patient health and longevity.

When presented with a patient that has a fractured tooth, the practitioner is faced with options for care: do nothing, follow the patient with serial radiographs, place a crown on top of the fracture with or without performing root canal therapy, or extract the tooth. The decision is based on patient and client factors. This foundation article will discuss patient factors.

What is meant by the words overbite, open bite, overjet, level bite, overshot, underbite, anterior crossbite, wry bite, lingually displaced or base narrow canines?

Dental disease is a common health problem in dogs and cats. It can lead to bad breath; swollen, bleeding gums; loose teeth; difficulty eating; and even more severe problems.

The Academy of Veterinary Dentistry (AVD), providing fellowship status to qualifying small animal veterinarians for 13 years, has drafted a plan to extend such status to its equine colleagues.