DENTISTRY
occurs secondary to food putrefying in periodontal pockets . Unless you treat the pockets ( through deep scaling and root planing , gingivectomy or placement of local antimicrobials into cleaned pockets ) and institute home care , malodour will soon return and periodontal disease will progress .
A healthier way to approach dentistry with long-term positive results is to examine the conscious patient first ( including the oral cavity ), followed by a tooth-by-tooth examination under general anaesthesia ( with probing and intraoral radiology ). If the tooth and support structures are in good shape , move on to the next tooth . If not , diagnose the pathology and formulate a treatment and prevention plan ( Figures 1A-1D ).
4 . Say no to the following phrase : “ The patient is here for a dental today …" When properly performed , what we do is a comprehensive oral prevention , assessment and treatment visit . If you regularly vocalize all of these terms , the client develops a better understanding of and appreciation for what ’ s involved . Note that prevention is listed first . Stressing prevention first will hopefully result in less future discomfort and extractions .
5 . Say no to too many dental cases per veterinarian per day
Once the entire team embraces the comprehensive oral prevention , assessment and treatment concept , everyone wins — especially the patient . And with 42 “ patients ” in every normal dog ’ s mouth and 30 in every normal cat ’ s , you ’ ll need to give yourself a lot of time to properly treat the cause of oral malodour .
6 . Say no to dentistry without patient warming systems
Figure 1B . Periodontal probe before insertion into a dog ' s partially erupted left mandibular canine
Figure 1C . 10-mm periodontal pocket ; gingivectomy , mucogingival surgery or extraction indicated .
Small animal dental procedures are commonly conducted in an air-conditioned environment , which decreases the patient ’ s core body temperature over time . Dental diagnostic and treatment procedures can be lengthy , and managing the patient ’ s core body temperature is recognized as one of the best ways to minimize the risk of an anesthetic complication . Careful monitoring and treatment of falling body temperature can help you avoid significant physiological and surgical complications as well . The patient ’ s temperature is monitored through esophageal or rectal probes , with the former being a more accurate representation of core body temperature . Provide a safe method of thermal support such as forced air and radiant heating systems ( Figure 2 ). You must take care to avoid thermal injury to the skin with other types of heating devices
7 . Say no to dental diagnostics and extractions without full-mouth radiographs
Scaling plaque and calculus from crowns and probing pockets only goes so far . At least 60 % of the patient ’ s teeth
Figure 1D . Bleeding on probing with 3-mm periodontal pockets ; root planing and instillation of local antibiotics indicated .
Figure 2 . Radiant energy warming device ( Hot Dog Patient Warming System ). vet360 Issue 03 | JULY 2018 Issue
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