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Open UP DVD - Continuing Education The recent DVD release from the AVDS, Hill's Pet Nutrition and iM3 has been a great success. Much feedback has been taken from practitioners around the country. In conjunction with the informative DVD the AVDS has put together a small quiz about the topics covered in the various DVD presentations. This quiz when completed (with a pass rate of 80% per section) it is worth CE points for AVA members. The quiz can be found here. When you have finished the quiz, send the quiz with our answers to Dr Aaron Forsayeth via email (aaron@puppydentist.com), or post it to: AVDS Open Up DVD Quiz Equine Talks for Pet Dental Health Month
Open UP - A Practical guide to improving Pet Oral Health Recently the AVDS in conjunction with Hill's Pet Nutrition and iM3 have put together a DVD demonstrating various Small Animal Dental techniques. Here is a quick snippet from the DVD: The DVD will be made available to all current AVDS members and also will be distributed by Hill's Pet Nutrition and iM3. AVA Pet Dental Health Month As you know, August is Pet Dental Health Month and this year there’s a focus on equine dentistry, reminding people to organise a ‘check-up’ for their horse. Brush up on dental care The Australian Veterinary Dental Society (AVDS) has prepared a series of messages to remind people of the importance of dental check-ups for their pets for Pet Dental Health Month. In particular, they are keen to remind owners about the need to look after their horse’s oral health. AVDS are recommending horses receive a dental check-up every year as an essential part of their regular annual physical examination, with the message that identifying problems early will decrease the chance of oral disease leading to serious health complications. More generally, they want to remind people that good oral care is important to maintain the best possible health and quality of life for all pets and are promoting the three ‘D’s’ for pet oral health. These are:
AVDS, Hills Pet Nutrition and iM3have recently released an educational resource called ‘Open up - a practical guide to improving pet oral health’. AVDS members will receive a free copy of the DVD. Non-members can request a copy from Hills or iM3 sales representatives. AVA pet Dental Health month is a nationwide effort to promote the importance of dental care and an essential part of good health for pet. Copies of the media releases for Pet Dental Health Month can be found on the AVA website. Seminars on equine dentistry are also being organised during August. Contact Shannon Lee for more details.
Dates are still being confirmed for Townsville, Sydney, Darwin and Hobart Seminars. Pet Dental Health Month Article Here is the link the upcoming article about Pet Dental Health Month 2008, to be published in the next issue of the Australian Veterinary Journal. Vital Pulpotomy A vital pulpotomy is a procedure that is not often enough used in Veterinary Dentistry. It is one of the few procedures that we as Veterinary Dentists may have to perform in an emergency fashion. The procedure is used commonly when an acute fractured tooth is presented to us with the pulp exposed. To learn more about Vital Pulpotomys plsease continue here.
The purpose of writing these AVDS guidelines is to clarify to the profession and if necessary, to the public, what is considered to be a professionally performed dental examination and treatment in dogs and cats, and also in the equine patient. The equine guidelines document covers the examination, treatment planing and therapy of oral diseases in the equine species by a ‘practitioner’. This term has been used intentionally as has been explained below. Finally, the ‘Position Statement’ was written to draw attention to the need for general anaesthesia to allow a thorough dental examination and treatment in dogs and cats. It is the position of the AVDS that these procedures cannot be adequately performed in a conscious or sedated patient. As an indication for the need for guidelines such as these, we note the article in the Victorian Veterinary Practitioner’s registration Board ‘Board Update’, Vol.31, No.1; in which there was an article on ‘Cutting of Overgrown Rabbit Incisors’ citing Dr Narelle Walter’s comments on this practice. The other concern of the AVDS, the EVA (Equine Veterinary Association) and many AVA practitioner members themselves is the practice of equine dentistry and surgery by lay persons who often call themselves ‘equine dentists’. In the light that ‘lay equine dentists’ are not new, that the EDAA is already well established and organized; and that they profess to have a ‘code of practice’ with ‘registration’, checks and balances, including a disciplinary code, the AVDS accepts that they will continue to practice in this unregulated business world we live in; however, we would like them to have to abide by the laws of the state and the same animal welfare concerns that our profession upholds. By producing and distributing these guidelines, we aim to have an educational influence over the horse handlers, trainers and owners so that they may make a better, informed choice when choosing an ‘equine dentist’ to attend to their animal. As a final point, we stress that the access to and use of restricted including sedatives and anaesthetic agents by laypersons is unlawful. We would like it recorded that the veterinary profession in general opposes the access of lay persons to restricted drugs as we see it opening the door to abuse, lack of proper control and misuse. We see that the use of such drugs by laypersons, such as ‘lay equine dentists’, may lead to attempts to do other procedures, such as castrations and the suturing of wounds etc. It would also enable laypersons to attempt dental/oral procedures far beyond their ability or training allows. Dr Wayne Fitzgerald, BVSc (Hons), MACVSc (Vet Dentistry) AVDS Position Statement. August 2007 Subject: Teeth cleaning in conscious dogs and cats. The AVDS has produced a document: ‘Dental Guidelines’ to inform and guide the Veterinary Profession, its organizations, the State Veterinary Boards and the public as to what it considers reasonable practice in conducting examinations and dental treatments on dogs and cats. The preamble clearly states: “The purpose of this document is to provide guidelines to veterinarians to perform a ‘dental’ procedure in dogs and cats. By a ‘dental’, we are referring to the necessary steps to perform an initial oral assessment, an assessment under general anaesthesia of any oral pathology present, the recording of findings and the development of a treatment plan, cleaning of the teeth both above and below the gum line, formulation of guidelines for home care and follow-up management.” In the section headed: “Oral examination, diagnosis and treatment planning”, it states: “Complete oral examination can only be performed with the animal anaesthetised; excessive calculus deposits may need to be removed to aid in the more accurate measuring of pocket depths with a periodontal probe. And again, under the heading “Steps for dental cleaning.”
The AVDS indicates that in its opinion, it is not possible to perform a thorough and complete dental examination in the conscious dog or cat. On behalf of the AVDS, Brazil: World Veterinary Dental Congress. Representing the AVDS, Rod Salter, Tony Caiafa and I set out from Melbourne on Monday the 16th April 2007 primarily to attend the 10th World Veterinary Dental Congress to be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Just prior to the conference, we made a 4 day side trip to the Amazonian jungle and took the opportunity to check the dentition on the Cayman (local crocodile), the Piranha (went fishing), the jaguar (no, not the car!) and 2 varieties of local monkey. We also had our guide demonstrate to us the medicines and ‘bush-tucker’ from the jungle. They even had a local version of the witchety grub!
I donated 2 Australian Harley Davidson T-shirts to our guide and another friend in the camp, and Rod and I were inducted into the ‘tribe’. I was sorry I hadn’t travelled with more Aussie memorabilia to give away. This side trip was very worthwhile as it opened our eyes to the area, its people, its problems and its vast resources.
The congress itself was very well organized and attended by about 500 vets with 3 consecutive streams running with excellent translations as necessary. The opportunity to refresh friendships and make new ones and leave our ‘Aussie mark’ in South America was not lost on us. We are now very fluent in the Samba and Tango, and understand just how hard the South American’s can party!
Of special interest was a lecture by Dr Juan Jose Krauss from Argentina, he outlined his efforts to introduce veterinary dentistry to Argentina. He is determined to continue his education of the practitioners and the universities; we could empathize as we had been there before! In fact we are still trying… After the congress, we three plus colleagues: Drs Loic Legrendre (Vancouver) and Bill Gengler (USA) travelled to Rio de Janeiro where we met up with a local vet Dr Claudia de Paula Ferreira da Costa who showed us the town! Bill is to be inducted as President of the American College of Veterinary Dentistry in 2008, so we didn’t miss the opportunity to be good hosts and to collect ‘blackmail’ material…
Rio had no shortage of stunning landscapes and bikinis, more Brazilian BBQ’s and more suicidal traffic! We learned a lot.
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