Hale Veterinary Clinic
159 Fife Road N1H7N8 Guelph, ON, Canada

#rvtmonth2020 #RVTMonth #oavt Stacey Huneke

Dental development evaluation is a crucial part of every puppy examination! Sometimes a tooth or multiple teeth are unerupted or under-erupted because of soft tissue impaction. It happens when there is a physical barrier (fibrous gingival tissue +/- bone) that prevents eruption. Like many other dental issues in puppies, ‘wait-and-see’ is not an appropriate approach. Timely treatment is required to give these teeth the opportunity to erupt normally when their potential to resp...ond to that opportunity is greatest. This 12-week-old Shih-poo was seen by Dr. DeRose for partial or complete impactions of many deciduous teeth (as seen in the pictures and radiographs). In order to remove resistance and help these teeth to erupt further, Dr. DeRose surgically excised any soft tissue and bony tissue that was in the way (operculectomy). We have now removed the physical barrier and all we can do is to sit back and see how things will turn out for him. It is important to warn the owners, the molars and first premolars have no deciduous precursors to blaze a trail through the bone and gingiva. In general, when puppies have trouble erupting their deciduous teeth, they may have difficulty with the eruption of their permanent teeth too. Therefore, we need to monitor this pup’s mouth closely to ensure his adult teeth will erupt normally. If they have not all erupted when he is around 6 months of age, more surgery will be required. He was born in July, so let’s wait and see what happens in January! For more information on why we need to act fast and how to manage this condition - http://www.toothvet.ca/PDFfiles/softimpact.pdf For more details on what normal dental development should look like and what abnormalities can present during each puppy visits - http://www.toothvet.ca/VSTEP/o%20-%20pediatric.pdf

#rvtmonth2020 #rvtmonth #oavt

We will not deny, tiny doggies are cute! You just want to walk around with them in your pocket! However, most of them have many developmental and anatomic dental abnormalities, that when left untreated, can cause pain and infection for their whole life. Early intervention is the key to optimize their oral health. This 1 year-old, 1.7kg (3.7lb) Chihuahua is a typical micro-dog with a micro-mouth. She was presented with 11 persistent primary teeth, 15 absent adult teeth, 5 i...mpacted and deformed adult teeth and seriously under-erupted lower canine teeth. These abnormalities had either already caused issues for her at the time of presentation or would cause issues in the future if left untreated. Therefore, all her retained primary teeth, right upper 3rd premolar, left lower 4th premolar as well as all her lower incisors and canines required extraction. Even after extensive surgery, she is still a tiny dog that is prone to periodontal disease with her remaining teeth. As long as she has teeth, in order to keep her free of dental pain and infection, she will need a safe and effective daily home plaque control program PLUS annual detailed periodontal assessments and maintenance therapy under general anesthesia. Generally, we need to assume all micro-dogs (under 5kg) have dental abnormalities unless proven otherwise. For optimum outcome, they all require a micro-dog dental work-up with intra-oral radiographs around 6-7 months of age (during spay/neuter) to identify and address all the issues before they become more serious. For the complete list of micro-dog dental problems and why these problems need to be addressed early - http://www.toothvet.ca/PDFfiles/microdogs.pdf

#RVTMonth #rvtmonth2020 #OAVT Kim Surette

#RVTMonth #rvtmonth2020 #OAVT