Our services

General and Advanced Dentistry Services

Oral and dental health in cats and dogs is just as important as it is in humans. Our pets suffer from the same tooth and gum diseases, as well as pain processes, as we do. Good oral health leads to overall good body health.  Periodontal disease is the most common disease diagnosed in cats and dogs, yet it is the most undertreated in veterinary patients.

At EVDS, we offer both general and advanced dentistry. Our full oral assessments include full mouth radiographs (x-rays), dental charting and soft tissue evaluation. If our dental evaluation finds nothing wrong or out of place, you can feel confident in knowing that your pet has had a full and complete exam and cleaning and is in good oral health.

In severe cases of periodontal disease, we may not be able to save every infected tooth. We will discuss several treatment options with you to help your pet maintain and retain their teeth. Depending on the patient, we can even help bone and soft tissue regenerate around the teeth.

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Endodontic Treatment

A root canal is often recommended when your pet is suffering from what is termed a complicated crown fracture (a complex fracture of the tooth), complex , discoloured or abscessed teeth. It’s important to treat complicated crown fractures right away (rather than taking the wait-and-see approach) as they involve exposure of the root canal system. In cases of a very recent fracture, depending on the age of your pet, if treatment is sought quickly we can perform a vital pulp therapy to keep the tooth alive.

In fractures that are long-standing we remove the blood vessels, nerves and connective tissue within the root canal system, which resolves the pain and infection. The canal is then filled and sealed with a non-toxic material and we may recommend the tooth be fitted with a crown to improve its strength or offer additional protection to the tooth structure

Root canals have very high success rates (approximately 95%) and one of the greatest benefits of this type of  procedure is that it has a short recovery time. One day after a root canal, your pet can go back to chewing their tooth-safe toys and eating hard foods if no other soft tissue procedures are done at the same time.

Complete extraction is the only other option for complicated crown fractures, discoloured or abscessed teeth. This procedure generally has a two-week recovery period,  but could take longer if the patient inappropriately disrupts their surgical site. Unlike extraction, a root canal allows your pet to preserve their teeth and maintain function and their jaw integrity, which is especially important for canine or carnassial teeth because they are instrumental in helping our pets bite and chew.

Root canals require post procedure check-ups, usually within 8-12 months of the initial procedure. We recommend follow up x-rays over the following 2-4 years.

Prosthodontic Treatment

Crowns may be recommended after a root canal. If your pet is an excessive chewer, a working dog or there is a risk for ongoing damage to the teeth, we may also recommend fitting a tooth (or teeth) with a full metal crown in-order to help preserve it. Not all teeth that have had a root canal treatment require placement of a crown.

At EVDS, our crowns are custom-made for each patient to ensure a perfect fit. We use a strong and durable titanium-metal alloy to resist your pet’s bite forces and chewing. We do not offer “tooth” coloured (also known as zirconia or porcelain-fused metal) crowns. These crowns are not durable enough for veterinary patients and require excess removal of tooth structure.

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Orthodontic issues are becoming more prevalent in cats and dogs, primarily due to selective breeding and changes in jaw size. Common problems are related to baby teeth, overcrowding and crossbites, along with overshot, undershot and wry bites. Left untreated, these problems can cause tooth or jaw pain.

Treatment can involve the extraction of, or height reduction and endodontic therapy of teeth, along with passive or active orthodontic devices, such as braces and maxillary expanders. Our team will review each patient based on the specific orthodontic problem to ensure your pet has a comfortable and functional bite for the rest of their lives.

Orthodontics

Oral Surgery

Your pet may require an oral surgery procedure to diagnose, treat or manage their condition.  These procedures generally fall outside the realm of straightforward cleanings or oral health maintenance. Some of the conditions we treat with oral surgery may be a result of advanced periodontal disease, trauma, developmental defects, and oral cancers. 

Oral surgery services include, but are not limited to:

  • Tumour Diagnosis/Management/Treatment
  • Oral Nasal Fistula Repair
  • Embedded/Unerupted Tooth Removal
  • Minimally Invasive Jaw Fracture Repair
  • Palatal Defect Repair
  • Soft and hard tissue trauma management

Oral surgery procedures may be performed in conjunction with dentistry services as diseases or conditions may require techniques from both.

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Restorative Dentistry

Many cats and dogs experience superficial tissue fractures that do not involve the root canal system, enamel hypoplasia and cavities over the course of their lifetime. Dental restorations help repair damaged teeth and eliminate any pain they cause.

At EVDS, we do not use any mercury or silver fillings on our patients.

Stomatitis Complex

Stomatitis (generalized inflammation of the oral cavity) is a very painful condition that can occur in both cats and dogs. It is related to your pet’s immune system and occurs when there is a severe, inappropriate reaction to oral bacterial in the mouth and on the tooth surfaces. It is crucial to treat this condition as it typically worsens over time, causing persistent pain, gingival recession and bone loss.

To treat stomatitis, we often need to surgically remove teeth to prevent the continued stimulation of the immune system and resultant pain. We will discuss treatment options, post-surgical pain management and follow-up appointments with you. Each case is very individual and the condition in dogs and cats can differ quite significantly so the recommendations for extraction is based on your pet’s unique case.

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Radiograph Interpretation (For Veterinarians Only)

We offer advanced interpretation of dental x-ray images sent to us by primary care veterinary clinics. Dr. Bissett assesses images on an urgent or standard report basis. Once a thorough evaluation is complete, we provide a report on the findings and, if necessary, treatment recommendations.

If a patient is under anesthesia, and you require an urgent read, please call us prior to sending images via email with the dental x-rays, patient age, and your findings, concerns or questions. Please advise your reception staff that Dr. Bissett will be calling to speak with you directly or provide us with direct contact information. This service is available Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., unless otherwise noted. If you request urgent services outside these hours, please call us to confirm Dr. Bissett’s availability.

Fees for radiograph interpretation can be paid through our secure online portal, or by credit card over the phone.

Standard case study: Images assessed, and written report provided within 36 hours of dental x-rays being received. There is no limit to the number of images that can be submitted related to a single patient.

STAT service: For patients currently under anesthesia only, images are assessed within minutes of dental x-rays being received to help with patient treatment. Assessment may include a recommendation for a referral to our clinic.

Please note: Dr. Bissett will not contact your clients directly about radiograph interpretations.  Dr. Bissett is happy to interpret radiographs of a patient prior to consultation to help make a referral decision.

Teaching Lab

Our goal is to continue to educate our veterinary community and work towards preventing as many pets as possible from living with painful undiagnosed or under-diagnosed dental problems.

Our teaching lab offers education on x-ray positioning and x-ray interpretation, as well as provides access to our extraction lab (for veterinarians only) to delve deeper into feline and canine oral extraction. Veterinarians and veterinary technicians who would like to further their knowledge and understanding about pet dentistry in order to provide even better patient care should contact us.  If you have specific education points you think would make a great webinar, please let us know to see if we can facilitate this.

Courses are available online and in person, when appropriate.

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Cone Beam CT Scan Imaging

The benefits of performing dental radiographs (dental x-rays) are well-documented, and full mouth dental radiograph survey is considered the standard of practice in veterinary dentistry.  Dental radiography is recognized as a valuable imaging tool with high diagnostic information yield, however, the nature of creating a two-dimensional (2-D) images of a tridimensional (3-D) structures can lead to inherent difficulties in image interpretation or even missing disease that is hidden under superimposed structures. 

Technology has advanced to the point where dental practices (human and veterinary) have been able to bring cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) patient side.  Cone beam computed tomography is similar to what you may recognize as a CT scan in the hospital but slightly different technology and also on a much smaller scale for the size of the machine and radiation exposure compared to a conventional CT machine.

Cone beam CT allows for very fine detail in multiple views to assess early periodontal disease (around the tooth) and endodontic (inside the tooth) disease that may not be initially visible on standard dental radiographs.  It also allows us to look through the entire tooth and around the entire tooth to see bone loss or loss of dental structures that often isn’t visible or is hidden on dental radiographs.

Cone Beam CT also allows for a 3D reconstruction of the skull structures that allows for surgical margin planning for cancer assessment and removal planning, assessing the severity of jaw and skull fractures and finding teeth that are unerupted and the location of these teeth in relation to important blood vessels and nerves so that risk for tissue damage is minimized during the extraction of these unerupted teeth.

Cone Beam CT is also extremely useful for evaluation of the nasal cavities, the sinuses, skull structures, the jaw joints and inside the ears.  We often find silent disease in these areas outside of the mouth in our patients either secondary to chronic dental infections or other.

Dental radiographs and Cone Beam CT are complimentary imaging tools and as such, should be used together for a full scope of disease assessment, treatment planning and treatment performed.

The CT scan only takes approximately 20 seconds after the machine is set up around the patient and this allows imaging to be done right at the time of the procedure and does not require a separate appointment.

Here at EVDS, we are extremely fortunate to have this advanced technology available for our patients.

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