Is it Tooth-hurty? Dental Disease in Cats
Today, we talk to Dr. Angela Briggs who is a veterinarian and even more...a veterinary dentist! We know that cats try to hide anything pain from the world and she tells us about some common issues she sees in kittens and cats. She gives us her insights on what to do and what to watch for to keep your cat happy, healthy, and pain free.
Listen to Episode #124 Now:
BIO:
Dr. Angela Briggs has been in veterinary medicine since she was 16 years old. Originally working as a veterinary assistant, this fueled her love for both animals and the healthcare field. Born and raised just outside of Washington, DC, she obtained her undergraduate degree in Animal Sciences from the University of Maryland.
After graduation, she moved to Charleston, SC and worked for a group of veterinary surgeons prior to the start of veterinary school. She obtained her doctorate in veterinary medicine from Mississippi State University in 2011. After veterinary school, Dr. Briggs worked in general practice for 8 years in Memphis, TN. There her love for dentistry and oral surgery began and she pursued advanced training in this field.
While in Memphis, she completed a 3-year residency in dentistry and oral surgery and is thrilled to be joining the staff at Your Pet Dentist of Nashville.
When she is not at work, Dr. Briggs enjoys all outdoor activities including training for various races, kayaking/paddleboarding, and hiking. At home, she shares her time with her husband, a board-certified veterinary surgeon, their two daughters and four fur-babies.
Transcript:
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Announcer: This is Pet Life Radio.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Hey there, cat lovers!
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Welcome to Nine Lives with Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Kat.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I'm your host, Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Kathryn Primm, and I'm a small animal veterinarian and crazy cat lover.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So, as you know, I love to make this show fascinating and fun, interesting and educational, and today I have with me Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Angela Briggs.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: She is a veterinarian, and furthermore, she is a veterinary dentist.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So, we are going to learn a little bit about dentistry in the animal world, and a little bit more about Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Briggs.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: We'll be right back.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Welcome back to Nine Lives with Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Kat on PetLife Radio.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: As I mentioned, I have with me Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Angela Briggs.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Hi, Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Briggs.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Hey, Dr.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Kat, thank you so much for having me on today.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I'm very excited to talk with you about this, because I feel like I still practice, and I feel like people do not realize how important dentistry is for cats.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And so I want to just educate them, and I want to have them know as much as we can share with them during our time together.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: But first, I want you to tell us a little bit about you.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Yeah, absolutely.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Well, as you said, I am a practicing veterinary dentist, and so I am practicing in the Nashville area.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so basically what that means is I, first and foremost, went to veterinary school and received my degree for that.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And then after veterinary school, I did a residency that was three years long.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And then I had to take multiple tests in order to become a board certified veterinary dentist.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so I get the honor and pleasure of being able to see my patients for various reasons.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: I get to see puppies when they have malocclusions or teeth don't line up properly, or kittens that have early changes along their gum line.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And then I also get to see all of the patients throughout their entire lives for various reasons.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Okay, so and I also want to put in a plug for our mutual veterinary school, Mississippi State.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Briggs and I are both Mississippi State Bulldogs.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I got to do a shout out to that.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: So yes, go dogs.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Hale State.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: We both as veterinarians had to have a bachelor's degree and then four years of veterinary school.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: But you're explaining that you went on and did several additional years, correct?
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Dr. Angela Briggs: That's correct.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so I actually, me personally, and a lot of veterinary dentists kind of take this route.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: But I was in general practice for a number of years, and then I just caught the love for veterinary dentistry, just being able to see how quickly I'm able to help these patients for a disease that is often hidden.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And a lot of owners have no idea, one, what's truly going on within their pet's mouths, no fault to their own, but also just the idea of veterinary dentistry.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: The number of clients that I have come to me on a weekly basis that say, I had no idea that there were specialists in veterinary medicine that exclusively worked with dentistry and oral health care.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, I share your love and fascination, because I don't know, I'm kind of like you.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I like to see fast results.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I like to know that I'm helping and I get a lot of positive feedback when we do things to address dental health, because people didn't know.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I agree.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I love that.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And so I'm so glad that you mentioned that.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I do want to talk a little bit about specifically cat dental disease.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Can you tell us maybe what are some of the common things that bring a cat to you?
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Yeah, absolutely.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: So like I said, there are some diseases that affect cats of all ages, even starting out as kittens.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: It's really important to be aware of potentially what's going on and the signs to look for, because sometimes we see these strange symptoms or these clinical signs, and sometimes it points directly to the oral cavity when you understand the disease process, and sometimes it doesn't.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: So when we look at kittens, one of the first places that we see disease in the oral cavity of kittens or cats under a year and a half or so, we give it a term, and it's called juvenile periodontitis.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so we exclusively use that term for cats under the age of 18 months, so about a year and a half, but they will get advanced bone loss compared to a healthy cat of their similar age.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: But also they get pretty significant gingivitis or inflammation of the gum tissue.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so sometimes owners are seeing where even these young cats and kittens are having trouble eating normally, or they may be refusing certain foods and treats because it's just hard and abrasive on that really sensitive gum tissue.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so fortunately, a lot of those cats will outgrow that disease process after about a year and a half, when we kind of assume or consider their immune system to be better equipped to handle normal oral cavity bacteria.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And the plaque that is within our oral cavity at all times.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: So that's a disease that specifically affects kittens and young cats.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And then probably two of the most common diseases that we see in middle age to older cats are feline resorptive lesions.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: We now call it tooth resorption, but a lot of people still call it feline oral resorptive lesions and stomatitis, which both of those can be extremely debilitating and extremely painful for our feline friends.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, I see a lot of those last two and just in my general practice, but I don't want to skip over the juvenile thing because I think that people think kittens don't really need to see a veterinarian.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And so would this be something that an average kitten owner would be able to perceive if they were looking?
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Yeah, absolutely.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And this isn't necessarily one of those disease entities that absolutely has to be referred to a veterinary dentist.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: It can be really well managed with most people, everyday general practitioner, depending on the equipment that they have.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so one thing is absolutely having intraoral dental radiographs on these guys when they have their first oral procedure to diagnose and to treat their underlying periodontitis.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And the importance in that is so that we can get an idea of any potential advanced bone loss that these guys already have.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And unfortunately, even by a year and a half, some of these cats have so much inflammation and then secondary bone loss that we are having to extract certain teeth.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Fortunately, however, that's not often the case, and a lot of these cats really respond well with frequent cleanings during that first year to year and a half age.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Every three to six months is sometimes what we kind of have to do for these guys.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And again, knowing we're only talking about a year to a year and a half.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: So even saying every six months might be two or three cleanings, which is insignificant in the long run, if we're able to really save these teeth.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So is there any link to other diseases like feline leukemia or any of the other things that might encourage my listeners to get their kitten into the veterinarian and be assessed?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Is there anything like that?
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Absolutely.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so we don't necessarily associate feline leukemia and other viruses like FIV as a cause for these disease processes.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: But we do know that they absolutely exacerbate them.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so especially when they have any immune issues like those cats that have FIV, any disease that they have within their oral cavity can absolutely be more significant and a lot harder to treat and to get a good resolution regardless of what that treatment might entail.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so having those thorough examinations, you know, routine blood work to evaluate and to check for those viruses is absolutely imperative.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Yep, that was what I wanted you to say, and my listeners all know.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Yeah, always say, communicate with your veterinarian.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Get your cat to the veterinarian because we all know that cats are not seeing vets.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So any opportunity that I have to get my guests to say, hey, go see your vet, I definitely jump on that.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Absolutely.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I want to take a quick break, though, and then I want to come back and talk about older cats, adult cats, and then maybe some senior cats.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So we'll be right back.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Welcome back to Nine Lives with Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Kat on Pet Life Radio.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Angela Briggs and I are discussing feline dental care and feline dental disease so that you can keep your cat feline fine.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Had to throw that in there.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So, alright, so let's get back to what pet owners, cat owners might want to do to help save their cat's teeth.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: So, as far as saving teeth, when we talk about cats that don't have significant underlying diseases that we need to be talking about doing surgical extractions for, I think the most important way in order to maintain proper oral health is one, frequent evaluations with your veterinarian because most cats are going to be a lot more amenable to evaluations in a clinic situation versus knowing that they can basically get away with a lot of more resistance at home at times to that and just making sure that everything looks really good within that oral cavity.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: We do also recommend annual cleanings, ideally if the patient is otherwise healthy, of course, and that would also include those intraoral dental x-rays that I kind of mentioned earlier.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And again, the importance to that is being able to evaluate the actual root of the tooth, but also any disease that hides underneath the gum line.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And once all of those check out and look great, and we don't need to do any type of surgical extractions or medical management, then it kind of falls back on the owner and those people that are living with those cats all day, every day, in order to start some at home oral health care.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, I love the opportunity to do an anesthetized dental cleaning and dental radiographs, because not only is it awesome from a dental standpoint, but it really gives me a chance to get in that cat's mouth in a way that I wouldn't with it being awake.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I certainly encourage that for my clients as well.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And I'm glad that you mentioned that.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Yeah, absolutely.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: I mean, you know, I think some people don't necessarily realize the extent of the oral exam that has to be done and can only be done under general anesthesia, unfortunately, for our pets.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And the reason being is I have yet to meet a dog or a cat that will let me literally probe and measure any periodontal bone loss around every single tooth, just sitting there wide open, you know, most a lot of adults and children won't even let a human dentist do that.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Right.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And it could potentially be painful, and you're not going to know until you're in there.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And so I don't want my listeners to be afraid of the anesthesia.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I hear that a lot in my exam room.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: You may not by the time they get to you, they're ready.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: But I hear that there are fears from the anesthesia and anesthesia is really good these days.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I don't think that should be what stops you.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Absolutely.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And, you know, I do still see a number of clients that have some reserves about the idea of anesthesia or that fear.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And I think a lot of it is the fear of the unknown.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: You know, it seems very foreign to them.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: A lot of times when we're talking about anesthesia, other than for kittens and puppies, when they're first getting spayed and neutered, you know, a lot of times those anesthetic procedures are revolving around big major issues.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so when we talk about anesthesia for dentistry, I try to make sure my clients, one, understand how safe anesthesia is these days, but also, two, it's really so much safer if you consider the idea of doing routine anesthetic cleanings that prevent us from then having to do one major oral surgery that takes significantly longer, induces more pain just from the nature of the surgery.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And I think that kind of helps a lot of clients understand the importance, or become more comfortable, I should say, with the importance of routine anesthetic dentistry.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I have people ask me, you know, what would you do when I suspect that there is something painful going on in the mouth?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And I say, you know what, if I was living with pain every single day, and my doctor offered me a chance to be free from that pain, but there was a small risk of the anesthesia, I would say, take the pain away.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And that really helps convince people.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And you probably have things that you say as well, right?
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Yeah, absolutely.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And I think I think you hit the nail on the head just, you know, this is a chronic disease process, unfortunately, for a lot of cats.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And, you know, being able to remove that dull, chronic aching can be life changing for these guys.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So how often do you think a general practitioner would find something that needed to see you in routine dental care?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: How many patients of the at-large population do you think have something that needs you?
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Dr. Angela Briggs: I would say for our cats specifically, we would probably be looking around 30, maybe 40 percent.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: A lot of the disease process can be treated with general practitioners, absolutely, especially when we're talking about selective extractions.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: I think that when we start to talk about cats that have comorbidities or underlying disease processes, especially cardiac issues or kidney issues that a number of cats will have as they get a little bit older, it can be really beneficial to have a veterinary dentist performing whatever oral procedure is necessary, one for experience and speed.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: But a number of us also have board-certified anesthesiologists that we work with these days.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: I know we do at our clinic, and it's a game changer for these older cats that sometimes need a little bit extra hand holding under anesthesia.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Another big reason for referral to veterinary dentists and oral surgeons are those cats that need full mouth extractions, especially when we talk about cats with caudal stomatitis, or that is that disease process where in the back of their mouths where their jaws meet are significantly inflamed.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And unfortunately, because we don't understand the full disease process of it, and we're getting closer and closer, and we're studying it more and more still.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: But right now, our best option is full mouth extractions.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Typically is the blanketed recommendation.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Every once in a while, we can maintain the canines if the stomatitis isn't severe.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: But again, for speed and for the ability to know that we have truly removed every root portion in these cats, which is imperative in order to help the disease hopefully resolve.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: That is another big reason for referral to our clinic.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Absolutely.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And that disease is excruciating.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So yes, I refer those a lot.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So, OK, so how many times have you heard, if you extract all of her teeth, how will she eat?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Have you ever heard that?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I have.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Oh, that's something that I hear every day.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And it's one of my favorite questions because it is such an easy question to answer.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Because one of my ways that I love to phrase it is not only do these cats survive without their teeth, but they thrive.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: These cats are in so much pain and discomfort.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: They often have really lost a lot of their excitement for life, their energy, and we're able to give that back to them.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: They don't care what the food is.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: They will still eat those crunchy kibbles if they really are prone to preferring that texture over soft food.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: They are incredible creatures.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I agree.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I've heard a lot that people had no idea and I gave them their cat back.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And so, yes, I encourage everybody to get your veterinarian to look at your cat.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: It's just such a game changer.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I want to kind of wrap it up, but I want to sort of ask you for some little tips.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So my basic cat loving listener and has a normal, healthy adult cat.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: What are some tips besides seeing the veterinarian?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Do you have any preferences for types of treats or tooth brushing or food or any astounding tips you can give us?
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Yeah, absolutely.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: So I applaud those cat owners that can and are willing to brush their cat's teeth.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Those people get all of the gold stars in my clinic for sure.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And there are also a lot of cat owners that just look at me and laugh if I were to recommend brushing their cat's teeth.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And that's okay because we got a lot of tricks up our sleeves.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so fortunately, there is a really great website called vohc.org, and that stands for Veterinary Oral Health Council.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so they're an independent council.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: They don't test these products on the market, but what they do is set up a certain set of standards, and then those products get independently tested.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And they have to be tested multiple times, and all these boxes have to be checked in order to get their little seal of approval.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so I always say if we're going to take the time, put in the energy, and spend the money, let's choose some products that we have at least an idea are really doing what we want them to do.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so there are a couple enzymatic pastes on there.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: So for those clients that don't have the ability to brush their cat's teeth, but maybe they could wrap a piece of gauze around a finger and just wipe the enzymatic paste at the gum line.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: The nice thing about enzymatic products is it does a lot of the work, pun intended, under the gum line, behind the scenes for us.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so that way we don't actually have to work that hard in that oral cavity and kind of stress the cat out sometimes.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And you know, it's not worth it if it's a stressful event for the owner and for the cat.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so that website and their list is amazing because it tells them or tells owners where they can get these products, whether they're available through their veterinarian or just through consumer online in stores, but also various products, starting from the toothpastes to water additives to crunchy chews and treats.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so those are absolutely my top recommended products.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Excellent.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, OK, so what if some of my listeners want to find out a little bit more about you or about veterinary dentists at large?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Can you give us some places they might look?
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Absolutely.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: So the first place that you can look for veterinary dentists in your area is on the AVDC website, and that stands for American Veterinary Dental College.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And we have a whole list of every board certified veterinary dentist on there, not only in America, but in Canada as well as in Europe.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And so that's a great place to start.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: We also have some links in there about diseases that they may be wanting some more information on, like caudal stomatitis or tooth resorption.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And if clients are in the greater Nashville area or just want to look up more information about my clinic, it's called Your Pet Dentist.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And like I said, we are in the Nashville area.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: That is excellent.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Thank you so much.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: I am just really thrilled because there are not that many veterinary dentists.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I am just grateful for you to take the time out to talk with us today.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Thank you so much.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Thank you.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: Thank you for bringing all of this to light, too.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: I think that obviously I am extremely passionate about veterinary dentistry and oral health, but I think that it is such an easy topic to become passionate about.
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Dr. Angela Briggs: And I think that the more that we help our clients understand how important it is that everyone is going to win.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, it's a quality of life issue.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So I do have people say, well, do you think she's in pain, Doc?
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Well, when it comes to dental disease, I kind of do.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: So, well, thanks again.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And of course, I always thank my amazing producer, Mark Winter, because without him, we would not have Nine Lives with Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Kat.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: And so I want all of my cat-loving listeners to go ahead and look up the things that Dr.
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Dr. Kathryn Primm: Briggs shared with us, and also go out and have a perfect day.
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