We used to call these FORLs – Feline Odontoclastic Resorptive Lesions. The dental specialists decided to drop "feline" because they started finding them in dogs, too. Odontoclastic referred to cells that work at reabsorbing the roots of baby teeth so that the permanent teeth can come in. Since we now realize that we don't actually […]
Category Archives: Dental Care
You’ve probably seen the TV ad where the doctor rushes across the ball field trying to make a catch. “You wouldn’t want your doctor doing your job, so why try to do his?” It’s about folks trying to diagnose themselves and treat with over-the-counter remedies. Some do this because they want to save money (and who […]
I got excited this week. I got excited because I got the opportunity to fix something that really needed fixing. You might think that happens all the time, but you don't always see such a great opportunity to handle a painful situation in such a rapid fashion. This is Dawson. When his loving owner "inherited" […]
Here's today's question from the wide world of internet: Hi. We have a 1.5yr old Samoyed. He cracked his fang tooth in half with slight pulp showing. We have been referred to dental specialist 150 miles away from us. He has put him on pain relief and antibiotics for 2 months, apparently until the tissue […]
It could be kidney failure, it could be advanced diabetes, it could simply be that your pet has eaten something that smells really bad… poop, for instance. And then there are those unexpected things. Pepper was in for a check-up in September. I talked with the owner about the accumulation of dental tartar, and how […]
So, do you remember in the "Addams Family" movie when little Wednesday is going to be a serial killer for Halloween? She wears her regular clothes as a costume because "They look just like everybody else." That's the way that abscessed teeth usually look. You can't see any difference between the diseased tooth and the normal […]
"And I'm afraid to have him anesthetized. I'm afraid something will happen." Hey, something did happen. This tooth lost its attachments and was hanging by a thread, which makes it wiggle around and hurt. It wasn't much trouble to extract this one. The tooth ought to be the color of those two white roots, not […]
Blue Kitty is a "stray". He's been living at the same place for months, and they like him, and they feed him, but… he's pretty independent. Not the kind of cat that wants to come in and sit on your lap. Really, he's about half wild. Under those circumstances, he doesn't exactly get a thorough […]
"So, how long has that tooth been broken?" Replies range from "Huh?" to "I didn't know he had a broken tooth." to "A long time. I don't think it bothers him." I must confess that I don't have the moral high ground, here. I pet the dog, I feed the dog, I don't give the […]
Many times we are presented with a pet whose teeth are terribly diseased. They have lost most of their attachment to the jaw, and the gums are swollen, infected and bleeding. Amazingly, after neglecting the pet's mouth to this condition, some owners are distressed because "You pulled his teeth." Teeth like these are the dental […]