Most common dental dz?

RE: Most common dental dz?

Rachel Perry — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 12:24:03 GMT

You also need these references then- 22years old bit still relevant! How much more disease will be detected by taking rafiographs /

Verstraete FJ, Kass PH, Terpak CH. Diagnostic value of full-mouth radiography in cats. Am J Vet Res. 1998 Jun;59(6):692-5. PMID: 9622736.

Verstraete FJ, Kass PH, Terpak CH. Diagnostic value of full-mouth radiography in dogs. Am J Vet Res. 1998 Jun;59(6):686-91. PMID: 9622735

RE: Most common dental dz?

Miriam Lodewyks — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 09:00:16 GMT

Thank you Rachel, that is massively helpful!
We do offer free dental checks with either me or my nurse, which really helps. Some of my colleagues still fail to understand the significance of dental disease in general, and the benefit of radiographs in particular, so I would like to be able to provide robust figures to support my belief that referral to me is genuinely worthwhile.

RE: Most common dental dz?

Rachel Perry — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 07:40:22 GMT

Here are some references for you. The most common "consulting room" diagnosis is certainly periodontal disease in both dogs and cats- The O'Neill papers are interesting. But of course this grossly underestimates the true extend of disease as we really need examination under anaesthesia including dental radiography. The Girard paper looks at both periodontal disease and resorption, but this is in a colony of cats. Other papers that look specifically at resorption tend to be a bit skewed as they are often referred populations of cats at referral centres.

O'Neill DG, Church DB, McGreevy PD, Thomson PC, Brodbelt DC. Prevalence of disorders recorded in cats attending primary-care veterinary practices in England. Vet J. 2014 Nov;202(2):286-91. doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2014.08.004. Epub 2014 Aug 7. PMID: 25178688.
Lund E, Armstrong PJ et al. Health status and population characteristics of dogs and cats examined at private veterinary practices in the United States. JAVMA 1999; 214(9): 1336-1341
O′Neill DG, Church DB, McGreevy PD, Thomson PC, Brodbelt DC (2014) Prevalence of Disorders Recorded in Dogs Attending Primary-Care Veterinary Practices in England. PLoS ONE 9(3): e90501. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090501 this is open access
Girard N, Servet E, Biourge V, Hennet P. Periodontal Health Status in a Colony of 109 Cats. Journal of Veterinary Dentistry. 2009;26(3):147-155. doi:10.1177/089875640902600301

I think it's often easy to overlook dental problems as a practitioner as often the client will not come in with a complaint of "my dog/cat has a dental problem" and you're often finding these things during vaccines or consults for fleas or itchy ears etc. Would it be possible for your colleagues to offer these clients a free consultation with you? Then you can purely talk about any dental issues and need for GA/radiographs? If they come back they're already on board, if they don't, no losses. You then have 10-15 minutes to convince then of why they need to take action.

In cats if you're seeing missing mandibular 3rd premolars (307, 407), these are 'sentinel' teeth for resorption, so there's likely to be more teeth affected. If there is gingivitis, there is disease which needs addressing now. If there are fractured teeth with pulp exposure, they need treating now. If there's heavy calculus on cat teeth- you don't know if there's resorption under that calculus until you remove under GA and examine/radiograph. Is there asymmetrical calculus? If yes, the animal is likely to be in pain as it's chewing one-sided.

Good luck with your presentation, many vets will be grateful to have someone like you to direct dental patients towards!

RE: Most common dental dz?

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 17:39:24 GMT

Gingivitis is part of periodontal disease. It's the earliest stage.

Sorry I was a little brusque before. Figures for percentage occurrence for feline resorptive lesion vary a great deal - in cats of seven or over, variously from 40% to 70% as I recall . It hardly matters - the condition is common, that's for sure.

RE: Most common dental dz?

Miriam Lodewyks — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 16:27:47 GMT

Not gingivitis?

RE: Most common dental dz?

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 14:28:54 GMT

Sorry, I'm not one for statistics. But in both cat and dog the most common "dental" disease is periodontal disease.