Читать книгу The Veterinary Dental Patient: A Multidisciplinary Approach - Группа авторов - Страница 70

The client who understands the importance of and is willing to perform oral home care to ensure that their pet's mouth heals and remains healthy will be happier in the long run. The veterinary technician/nurse should work with them to develop a strong relationship between them and the clinic. Explaining to the client why home care is important and demonstrating how to administer such care is critical to gaining compliance. Home care instructions must include postoperative medications, dietary restrictions or recommendations, an explanation of the procedure, and after care needs, as well as long‐term dental home care recommendations.

Follow‐up visits can often be a technician appointment. It is strongly recommended that all dental patients have a postoperative follow‐up within one to two weeks to allow the technician to evaluate healing, but also to reinforce the need for dental home care. Home care techniques can be evaluated and discussed with the client during these visits.

Some practices use a color‐coding system for continuing follow‐up examinations: a red code means the patient needs to have a follow‐up every three months, orange means every six months, and green means every year. Patients can be up‐ or downgraded from one code to another depending upon the results (Figure 4.12).

Handouts should be individualized to the patient, and are another way of showing the client the importance of dental health. They should include a simplified dental chart for making notations (e.g., on depth, furcation exposure, or missing/extracted teeth), the prescribed treatment plan, a discharge form, and a copy of the dental X‐rays. Handouts on common dental problems, home care options, and treatments can be created by the veterinary technician/nurse. These should be sent home with the client after discussing the procedure or problem with them in the exam room.

Figure 4.12 Color coding of patients for follow‐up visits.

The veterinary technician/nurse, along with the rest of the veterinary team, should see themselves as public educators. This not only helps more pets receive better dental care but can show that a practice has embraced dentistry and its importance to patient well‐being. There are now many options for getting the word out about the importance of oral health. Social media posts can contain trivia questions, important information, and even interesting cases (with client permission). Consider your audience when posting cases, however, and leave out the bloody gore, even though this can be a useful tool for raising owner awareness of dental conditions.

Be creative. There are many opportunities to educate the public about the importance of oral health for pets. Here are a few ideas:

 Hold an open house and tours of the dental suite for clients, visitors, and youth groups

 Provide informational brochures in waiting rooms (Figure 4.11)

 Offer a video on your website explaining the client/patient experience on the day of a dental procedure at your practice

 Create a smile book with before and after photos and a pictorial step‐by‐step of a dental cleaning procedure (Figure 4.12)

 Write an article for a local newspaper

 Visit an elementary school with a dog that loves to have its teeth brushed

 Offer a program at a youth group meeting such as 4‐H or Scouts

 Provide a booth at a mutt strut or other pet‐related event

Figure 4.13 Informational brochures in a waiting room.

Figure 4.14 Before and after smile book examples.