Dental month wrap up - August 2022

During August, veterinary clinics around the country celebrated dental month, taking the opportunity to promote the importance of dental health in pets. However, president of the Australian Veterinary Dental Society, Dr Rebecca Nilsen, wants vets to rethink their approach. “While August is National Pet Dental Health Month, dental health should be a daily ritual for pet owners all year long and … part of every visit in the clinic,” she says.

According the Australian Veterinary Dental Society (AVDS), discounting dentals during Dental Month has the potential to undervalue the importance of these procedures. It may lead to clients ‘waiting’ until August in order to book in dental procedures, prolonging pets' pain and allowing progression of already-present dental disease. It could also inadvertently give clients the message that dentistry is only important annually, rather than something requiring year-round commitment. “Dental month is every month,” says Dr Tara Cashman. “Value your time and skills as vets… Schedule adequate time, charge accordingly…and never stop looking, radiographing and probing teeth – you won’t see [if] you don’t look.”

Dr Nilsen suggests veterinarians should “use dental month as an educational tool to highlight the importance of dental health to clients.” Instead of using dental month to book in discounted dentals, vets should consider value-adds such as providing educational resources via handouts or social media; teaching owners to ‘flip the lip’ in their pets, particularly from a young age; and educating veterinarians and veterinary nurses so they can pass on knowledge to clients. The emphasis should be on ensuring clients view veterinarians as their pets’ primary healthcare provider and the source of good knowledge. Not, as Dr Nicole Hoskin says, “the dog park, or Facebook.”

The importance of dental health is reflected in the impact AVDS has had following its inception. Since 1990, Dr Rod Salter says, “the number of dental procedures has exploded.” He attributes this growth to two factors: better information, and improvements in technology, both of which have moved veterinary dentistry into the mainstream. In addition to spreading knowledge and education about veterinary dentistry to the wider profession, AVDS also provides multiple benefits to its members, including access to conferences and wetlabs to build on dental skills and knowledge, tailored support from colleagues with expertise in dentistry and access to educational events such as free webinars.

Ultimately, AVDS wants to change the way general practitioners think about dentistry. It’s never ‘just a dental’. Dr Nilsen says, “it’s oral surgery, and should be treated with the same respect as any other surgery.” According to Dr Cashman, the take home message is that we as vets need to “take dentistry seriously, [because then] the clients will, too.”

Click here to register for a webinar presented by Dr Crystal Loh. The webinar, which is being held on 31 August 2022, will discuss the consequences of endodotic diseases in dogs and cats. It is free to attend for AVDS members.