I am going to give you a specific action step that you can start on this week that will help tremendously with the efficiency of your dentistry service. Once that is accomplished you can move onto other areas one challenge at a time to transform the entire approach to the patient.
This will create a much less frustrating and stressful service allowing you to flow through each case minimizing anesthesia time and dramatically improving patient care.
But first let's mention those other dental deficiency disorders that are areas that we can improve on as well.
Working in the dentistry service and knowing what challenges you face, I would Imagine you can probably guess what these 4 other dental deficiency disorders are:
- Chronic Step-by-Step Deficieny Virus
- Idiopathic Full Mouth Radiographic Positionitis
- Immune - Mediated Surgical Extractosis
- Acute Onset Dental Chartitis
Here is the first thing that you can do immediately which is going to improve reading radiographs and being able to come up with diagnoses quickly and efficiently.
It is to look at normal and how the relationship to normal and the progression to abnormal will affect your decisions on whether to extract and not to extract.
The relationship between the interdental space on these 3 teeth is pretty much normal and if you take a look at that you have got a bone height that is right at the neck of the teeth. and
These arrows are pointing to that normal marginal bone height. The term marginal bone height is the most coronal level of bone whether normal or abnormal.
There are two main terms to describe abnormal marginal bone height, horizontal bone loss and vertical bone loss. Both, if significant are indications for extractions.
Horizontal bone loss there is no vertical component. Loss is equal across the defect, hence horizontal, just like a table top as shown below. We can’t repair these defects as they have no vertical walls to hold the blood clot or graft material.
This tooth should be extracted due to the bone loss and the lucencies at the root apices. Those indicate that the tooth is non-vital secondary to periodontal disease when bacteria entered the dentin and killed the vital pulp.
Vertical bone loss is shown below. If we take a periodontal probe and we stick in that pocket it is going to go down even below where that arrow is adjacent to the tooth root.
If the pet parent is willing to come back every 6 months or in some cases every 3-4 months for cleaning in the hospital, along with diligent, life long home care we can save those teeth but it requires a very dedicated pet parent.
If not that tooth should be extracted, which is 95+ percent of the time.
Watch these 2 parameters, these are the things which we see when we are diagnosing and treating periodontal disease when it comes to radiographic interpretation.
The bottom line rule is:
Watch these 2 parameters, these are the things which we see when we are diagnosing and treating periodontal disease when it comes to radiographic interpretation.
If the pet parent is unwilling to dedicate to saving the tooth it is an extraction. Age and severity affect those decisions as well.
I think you can see where that makes your decision making even more clear and will facilitate proper assessment and proper treatment.
But that is only one 10 minute discussion in a 5 hour online course that will allow yuo to take the next step to master veterinary dental radiographic interpretation. This course will eliminate the frustration of decision making and allow you to be even more confident in managing each case, tooth by tooth.
Veterinary Dental Radiographic
Interpretation Online Course
We have a lot of bonuses and a discount waiting for you.
Use the promo code: quiz
I challenge you to learn this course as a veterinarian and technician team and implement everything in that course in the next couple of months. If you do, you will reap the benefits for your entire careers and change the lives of the patients you treat for oral disease.
Now, go out and make it a great day!!
Cheers,
Brett
