Dr. Lera performs a root canal on a dog named Lucy whose chewing tooth fractured and exposed the pulp. The procedure involves dental X-rays, cleaning out the damaged nerve, and fitting a custom crown made at a lab. Veterinary dental X-rays require general anesthesia, so owners should get an in-person exam if they suspect a tooth fracture.
Hey, guys, My name is Dr. Lara. Today I'm here with one of my patients, Lucy. And as you guys can see, Lucy is under anesthesia. Lucy came in because she had a fractured tooth or a cracked tooth. And the pulp or root, the pulps were exposed the nerve. And that's something that's extremely painful. You can see it's this tooth right here. And you'll be able to see, you know, that there's some holes or openings or a different coloration right there. And so we've gone ahead and done some X rays on Lucy today, and we're looking at trying to determine as to whether or not she needs a root canal. Now, most people might think a root canal on a dog, Are you crazy? And so the reason that we do root canals in dogs is because there are eight major teeth in the mouth that are very, very important. Those are the four fangs, the upper and lower. So that's four. And then you have the four chewing teeth. And those are the most important teeth in the mouth. And so one of the teeth that she broke or fractured is one of those eight major teeth. It's a tat chewing tooth. And that is the most common tooth that is fractured in dogs. The reason it's typically fractured is because dogs will take really hard things and they like to chew on it, and they like to chew on it where they can get the most leverage, which is at the back of their mouth. So normally, what we'll have to do is we'll go ahead, we'll go ahead, we'll do some X rays, and then we can determine if the tooth can be saved. If the tooth can be saved, then we will go ahead and recommend doing a root canal, making the molding for a custom crown to be manufactured, send it off to the lab to be performed, and then two to three weeks later, we'll place the crown shortly afterwards to go ahead and protect that tooth. It is something where not every patient needs to have a root canal, nor do they need to have crowns, but it is something that is very important to go ahead and take care of, even if they have what you would think would be small chips in a tooth that makes the tooth very susceptible to infection. And so it's very important to go ahead and determine whether or not the, the tooth needs treatment. The only way that you're going to know whether or not your dog is going to need treatment is to have a dental expert have the dog's mouth evaluated with X rays and doing an in person evaluation like this. Unfortunately, in veterinary medicine, as of right now, the only way that we can do dental X rays is with general anesthesia. Until somebody develops a technology or sedation where we're able to do that kind of procedure with the patient while they're awake, that's the way that it's going to have to go. So if you guys have any questions about this particular comment, leave it in the comment box. If you found this video helpful, give us a thumbs up. Subscribe and share. Thanks for watching. Have a great day and be safe.
