What Veterinary Dentistry Trends and Tools to Look for in 2016January 13, 2016Originally published in the January 2016 issue of Veterinary Practice News. Did you enjoy this article? Then subscribe today! I’m writing this as I return from the 29th annual Veterinary Dental Forum in Monterey, Calif. This year, the forum was combined with the 13th World Veterinary Dental Congress, so leaders in the field from around the world converged upon Monterey. Here are some of the hot trends and tools for 2016 that I noted at the conference. Dental Radiography and Dental Teleradiology More and more general practices are getting digital dental radiography, and with good reason. Dental radiography provides the necessary information to allow veterinarians to diagnose and treat oral diseases. Radiography also provides assurance that treatment has been successful. The most important thing to do once you purchase a dental radiography system is to use it. Every patient can benefit from dental radiographs. Learning radiographic positioning and radiographic interpretation takes time. Positioning can be learned with a site visit or by attending continuing education events. Learning positioning will require some practice with a skull or cadaver to master the intricacies of tube head positioning. …
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How to Use an Allograft Membrane to Fix Oral TraumaJanuary 6, 2016Originally published in the December 2015 issue of Veterinary Practice News. Did you enjoy this article? Then subscribe today! Halo, an 8-week-old female pit bull mix, was presented as a referral to the Dentistry and Oral Surgery Department at North-Star VETS. Halo had been attacked by an adult pit bull, suffering injuries to her head and face. She was stabilized at a specialty hospital and sent to me for evaluation of fractures of her right maxilla and hard palate. A physical exam revealed normal findings except for mucoid discharge from the right nostril, sneezing and puncture wounds over the right muzzle. Halo refused a conscious oral examination. John Lewis, VMD, FAVD, Dipl. AVDC Figure 2: Initial suture placement of an allograft bone membrane before trimming the membrane to a size slightly larger than the size of the defect After preoperative CBC and chemistry screen proved to be unremarkable, Halo was placed under anesthesia for an oral examination. It revealed a defect of the palatine process of the maxilla and a large defect of the palatal soft tissue that should cover the hard palate (Figure 1). A right midmaxilla fracture extended …
10 Tips to Manage Recumbent Veterinary PatientsDecember 28, 2015Originally published in the December 2015 issue of Veterinary Practice News. Did you enjoy this article? Then subscribe today! Recumbent patients are not all paralyzed or in a coma. They include patients with limited mobility: those recovering from surgery or anesthesia, suffering from trauma such as hit by car or dealing with metabolic imbalances, polytrauma, brain diseases or severe sickness. Prolonged recumbency affects virtually every body system and organ. Here are 10 tips to manage your recumbent veterinary patients. 1. Pressure Sores Decubital ulcers are probably the first complication that comes to mind when we manage “down” patients. Bed sores are much easier to prevent than to treat. Patients should be kept on thick, dry, clean bedding at all times. The heavier the patient, the thicker the padding should be. The size of the cage should be proportional to the patient. If you don’t have a run, you may need to be creative and arrange an area on the floor. Your treatment sheet should include: Rotating …
What Would You Do if it Were Your Pet?December 17, 2015One of the most common things I hear from veterinary clients is: “What would you do if it were your pet?” I sometimes reply that of course I would do exactly the same thing to my pet. Or to my parents’ pet. Or to my neighbor’s pet. To be honest, I didn’t come up with these various lines. I borrowed them from the surgeons who trained me during my residency. Sometimes, because emotions might interfere with my judgment if it were truly my pet, I reasoned, I’ve always thought that it was not a fair question, which I’ve told many clients. Other times, it feels like a silly question. Hopefully, my pet would not have been walked off leash and therefore would not have been hit by a car. Hopefully, I would not have allowed my pet to grow a tumor bigger than his head. Hopefully, I would not allow my great Dane or German shepherd to go through life without a prophylactic gastropexy. In other words, many avoidable situations would hopefully be avoided. But in other cases, I realize that “What would you do if it …
How Much Does a Vet Health Certificate Cost?December 16, 2015People need to move animals internationally and across state lines for countless reasons. Some people take animals to compete abroad, some are involved in agriculture, and others still cannot bear the thought of moving or traveling long-term without their pets by their side. But getting your documents in order can be a long and arduous process that varies depending on your destination country and what type of animals you need to transport. Remember that if you plan to bring any animals back — including those that came from the United States in the first place — you will need to follow both import and export procedures for the United States and any country your animal visited while abroad. What is one of the documents do you need? One is a vet health certificate, which according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA): "This certificate basically indicates your pet is healthy to travel and is not showing signs of a disease that could be passed to other animals or to people. Certain vaccinations must be up to date for a health certificate to be issued. As part of the exam, your veterinarian may check for heartworm disease …
Post-op massage for veterinary patients? Just do it!December 15, 2015If you perform surgery, consider a massage for your patients postoperatively. If you do not have the time or educational background to practice massage, you would be wise to either learn how to perform bodywork or hire someone who can.
What You Need to Know About ParvoDecember 2, 2015Originally published in the November 2015 issue of Veterinary Practice News. Did you enjoy this article? Then subscribe today! Despite a widely available parvovirus vaccine, periodic outbreaks of the deadly disease continue. Experts say this is due in large part to animals not being vaccinated fully, or being vaccinated at the wrong time. Those are the top two reasons that general practitioners still see cases, says Steven L. Marks, BVSc, associate dean and director of veterinary medical services at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. “There’s probably not a vaccine that’s 100 percent effective guaranteed,” said Dr. Marks, MS, MRCVS, Dipl. ACVIM, a clinical professor of internal and emergency medicine. While vaccines can sometimes, though rarely, inexplicably fail, Marks finds that many failures occur in young animals that are not fully vaccinated. Typically these pets are left unprotected because their owners get one vaccine and do not come back for more, believing they are “one and done,” Marks said. Heather Loenser, DVM, veterinary adviser in professional and public affairs at the American Animal …
Why there is much to learn about cannabis, cancerDecember 2, 2015The search for plant-based cancer cures turns up exciting prospects such as curcumin (from the Indian spice turmeric) and medicinal mushrooms from Asia. Scientific research is highlighting myriad mechanisms of each of these promising plants, finding pro-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory and immune-enhancing benefits.
How to Remove Stubborn Tooth RootsNovember 20, 2015Originally published in the November 2015 issue of Veterinary Practice News. Enjoyed this article? Then subscribe today! What comes to mind when you hear that dreaded crack during extraction of a firmly rooted tooth? Do colorful expletives flow from your mouth like water from a faucet? Does your heart sink deeper into your chest? I once felt this way when I broke roots during the process of extracting teeth, but over the past 18 years, I have learned to envision this complication in a different light. I encourage you to think of the breaking of a root not as an insurmountable challenge, but rather as an opportunity to retrieve the remaining root structure without the rest of the bulky tooth being in the way. This outlook is easier to embrace when you’ve learned a relatively foolproof plan to remove stubborn root tips. In this column, I’ll describe my approach. First, let’s discuss the controversial topic of what to do with root tips that are an incidental finding on dental radiographs in an apparently healthy and happy patient. The accessibility of digital dental radiography has provided …
A Deep Look at Basics of Wound CareNovember 19, 2015Originally published in the November 2015 issue of Veterinary Practice News. Enjoyed this article? Then subscribe today! Here’s the advice many veterinary specialists offer in dealing with animals’ wounds: Look deeper. While a wound itself may call for immediate attention, beneath the damaged tissue may lurk a deeper injury, or a rampant infection lying in wait in an area critical to a pet’s future mobility. Early and thorough exploration of wounds allow them to be cleaned before tissue becomes more infected or necrotic, and more importantly, before the bacteria spread system-wide, said Marije Risselada, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ECVS, Dipl. ACVS. “Exploring the wound — looking for trauma to underlying structures — is key in bite wounds, as the act of the fight and the motion of the dog that is biting and the one that is bitten oftentimes tear the underlying muscles, tendons, tissues, while the overlying skin is more mobile and only shows some small puncture wounds,” Dr. Risselada said. She is an assistant professor in small animal soft tissue and oncologic surgery at the
