Contents of Today's Veterinary Practice - JAN-FEB 2012

Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.

Page 43 of 83

| PRACTICAL DENTISTRY A
decreasing dentin permeability (dentinal sclerosis). This may be sufficient to protect the pulp; however, it is impossible to measure.
BROKEN TEETH Broken teeth are a very common problem in vet- erinary patients.11,12
a broken tooth in their mouth with direct root canal (nerve) exposure,13
In fact, 1 out of 10 dogs has which is called a compli-
B
cated crown fracture (Figure 4). This number does not include the numerous pets with uncomplicated crown fractures (Figure 5) or fractured teeth that do not directly involve the root canal system. Both types of tooth fractures require therapy, but the treatments are often different.
A
C B
D C
Figure 4. (A) Slab fracture of the maxillary left fourth premolar (208); (B) Slab fracture of the maxillary left fourth premolar (208) with direct pulp exposure (yellow arrow); (C) Complicated crown fracture of the mandibular left canine (304) with direct pulp exposure; (D) Severely comminuted, complicated crown fracture of the mandibular left first molar (309).
42 Today's Veterinary Practice January/February 2012
Figure 5. (A and B) Uncomplicated crown fractures with dentin (blue arrows) but no direct pulp exposure of the maxillary left fourth premolars (208); (C) Uncomplicated crown fracture with dentin (yellow arrow) but no direct pulp exposure of the mandibular right first molar (409).