Re: Nurses in veterinary dentistry.

Emma Clark — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 21:19:56 GMT

Hi Katie!!!

Its been ages!!!! Hope all is well, hows uni going?

As you know dentistry is one of my main interests, I'm reguarly involved in both assisting with dental procedures and educating clients post treatment and during dental nurse clinics. I really enjoy the physical role of dental work, being able to assess and chart a patients teeth, scaling and polishing, assiting the vet to identify problem areas and then devising follow up homecare plans. Its very satisfying because every patient is different and you need to assess and treat appropriately for that animal and its circumstance. Even more though I love the nurse clinic side of dental work, being able to educate and demonstrate to clients the importance of dental care to their animal. Although it is really fulfilling, and as you say a chance for real hands on care, I also find it very frustrating. Depending on the practice the nurses role in this area varies greatly, the equipment standard varies greatly and the emphesis of preventative dental care varies greatly. The most frustrating thing for me though is client attitude and there is still a large percentage of clients who do not consider their pets dental hygiene important.

Having said that, I feel this makes it more possible for nurses to develop in this area. There are already further education courses in this subject area, which I feel are very beneficial as very little was covered in my original veterinary nurse training. You don't have to be able to chart, scale or polish teeth as part of VN training yet many practices delegate this role to us, and I learnt most of my skills post qualifying. We can develop in how we assist with dental procedures, such as our dental charting, knowledge of dental problems, optimising patient care through the procedure such as anaesthetic considerations, and developing post treatment careplans alongside the case vet. I think the biggest role for development is in educating clients, as vet nurses we are in prime position to undertake this, and more and more practices are introducing nurse clinics and utilising the skills and knowledge of their nurses.

At this rate I could write the essay for you hehe!!!!!!! :) anyway hope my ramblings make sense!!

Miss working with you!! Emma xx