Toothy Thomson

11/08/2019

What’s in your calendar that you are looking forward to??? 🗓.
What’s in big RED block letters and underlined?
A good friend and classmate sent me this image. She was excited to see I was back in the area and I was equally excited to see the notice sent out about my arrival. .
While I am still adjusting to the big city I am super excited to be joining this amazing team on September 3rd!! So THAT is the date underlined in red for me!!
So what is underlined in your calendar??.

03/08/2019

TOOTHBRUSHING!!!!
There is NOTHING on the market better for your pet’s home oral care. Now, don’t get me wrong there are lots of great products that can be added to your pets home oral care routine - BUT none that replace tooth brushing.
SOOOOoooo happy to see 14 week old already taking to his mother brushing!!
Tips for brushing:
1. The risk of caries (cavities) is less than 5% in our pets - so you can brush BEFORE feeding - and their meal can be a reward
2. To avoid your pet from chewing on the brush you can gently hold her mouth close and focus your brushing on the outside surfaces only. Plaque is a so even just removing from one surface significantly decreases the amount AND the tongue does help a bit with lowering the plague on the inside
3. MAKE IT A DAILY HABIT! Those ‘fuzzies’ you feel on your own teeth in the morning. .. THAT is Ewwww! BUT it can be removed/disrupted before is becomes mineralized into which is matured at 18-36 hours. Calculus can NOT be brushed away, so you have to brush daily. **added bonus, doing it daily increases your success of incorporating this into your routine long term!

22/07/2019

Let’s talk about asymmetrical calculus!!

On a daily basis I hear: “she/he isn’t painful, she/he is eating well and playing with toys!”

I heard this from the very caring and astute owners (one was even a veterinary technician trained to look for signs of pain) of these 3 pets! It’s a very subtle finding, easily missed!

Asymmetric calculus is an indication of oral pain in the tooth or side of the mouth with the heavier calculus deposition.
This heavy calculus accumulation in a asymmetrical pattern is an objective measure of this pain, as these pets are preferentially eating on the NON-painful side!

This asymmetry is our pets way of saying: “OUCH! This hurts! Please fix it” and it’s our job to listen, to find the problem!

These pets had: a congenital anomaly (suspected to be Dens in dente - ‘tooth within a tooth’) leading to pulp exposure, severe periodontal disease and a complicated (enamel-dentin-pulp) fracture leading to these asymmetrical calculus patterns.
While pets can still be experiencing oral pain without asymmetrical calculus, when this is present it is a “slam dunk” sign of discomfort.

17/07/2019

10/07/2019

Looks like a pretty ‘normal’ tooth at first glance right?!
Just a little ‘chip’ missing.
WRONG! Scroll to the radiograph to see not only was this tooth non-vital, it had died a LONG time ago as evident from the extremely large periapical lucencies on both roots. This jaw was a hard bump or fall away from the pathological fracture not to mention a source of chronic discomfort for this little guy.
ALWAYS take dental radiographs. This pooch is feeling like a new pup now!