Idiopathic Issues

As a vet student or new grad, you will probably encounter clients who want to save money and avoid anesthesia by pursuing anesthesia-free dentistry for their pets.

After all, what’s not to love about it? Their pet doesn’t go home groggy, there’s no anesthesia risk, and the cost is a lot lower than a comprehensive dental cleaning. From a client’s perspective, anesthesia-free dentistry looks pretty appealing! 

Anesthesia-free dentistry providers capitalize on this appeal, using a variety of marketing strategies to sell clients on a service that is of limited benefit. While we all know that anesthesia-free dentistry is inferior to comprehensive veterinary dentistry, it’s important to be able to clearly explain your view to your clients, without becoming defensive.

You can’t just tell clients that your dentals are better than anesthesia-free dentistry; you need to be able to educate them on why that’s the case.

Doing so requires attention to facts and details.

As a general practice veterinarian, you will probably dedicate a significant amount of your time and energy to veterinary dentistry. While many patients only need a routine cleaning or a simple extraction, you will also encounter challenging cases that would benefit from more specialized care. 

When a challenging dentistry case comes along, it’s important to know what referral options are available to you and when a patient should be referred to a veterinary dentist.

When you diagnose a patient with otitis externa, you will likely be reaching for topical medication for treatment.

Owners often ask if there’s “a pill” they can give instead of having to clean and medicate their dog’s ears, but the reality is that oral medications are typically only used in cases of ulcerative or proliferative otitis externa or when concurrent otitis media is suspected.

When I was in vet school, I was under the impression that I would be performing ear cultures on a semi-regular basis. After all, how else would I know if and when I was treating a resistant infection?