The Significance of Animal Oral Hygiene

Dental care is very important and routine care for many animals is essential not just for their comfort but for health reasons just like humans. Loss of teeth or any other dental problems can lead to more health issues. If I owned my own clinic I would just offer some basic services and refer to a veterinarian dentist for anything more than a cleaning. I feel that it is important to keep regular cleanings in house and as easy and convenient for my clients as possible so they will actually have it done and do other regular services that I would provide such as vaccinations with my clinic.

So since I am going to offer limited services I would make sure to carry treats to help with dental as well as oral rinses and oral gel. I think that this is essential for care even in between dental cleaning in which I would provide. I would provide services to clean plaque yet I would not offer services of pulling or doing any more than cleaning for small animals. Therefore, I would refer those clients to a small animal dentist. Since my area is not heavily populated with horses I would find it beneficial to offer float services as needed instead of trying to refer a small number of clients elsewhere. I think it would be difficult to refer them to someone and keep their business as they would then go for routine care as well to the person I referred them to. If I found a person to come in such as an equine dentist then I feel like it would be necessary to try to get all horses in on one day.

While looking at and researching different dental units and what can be done with each I found that many units are expensive. Then I decided to go in and ask my current veterinarian how often he sees animals for dental exams. In our area not many people do more than a cleaning therefore a big dental unit would be a waste. They have a large cost from 7,000 to 9,000 dollars and they would probably not get used to their full potential even if I offered all services. Since this unit would not be used it would not be able to pay for itself. Engler has a couple units that are small and just contain a scaler and polisher. This would be very useful in my clinic as we would only offer cleanings. This unit is also cheaper in price and is 1,825 dollars which if you charge 50 dollars for a cleaning then it would take 37 cleanings to pay for the dental unit. Which would be less than one dental cleaning a week.

Engler also has a dental unit that is just a scaler however I think many of my clients would want to go ahead and have the animal’s teeth polished if they are already going to have them go through and it would not be much more of a charge. This unit is even cheaper with a price of 870 dollars. If I got this dental unit I would be looking at a cheaper price of my service, however, I would also be doing less for my client. So if I was doing less I would also have to charge less. I feel that then it would take just as long for this unit to pay for itself than the unit with the polisher plus I could use the polisher as an extra incentive to get customers into my clinic.

All of the clinics in my area only have scalers which means that I would be able to provide a better cleaning for my clients than competitors. This would be a great advertising point to gain business as I would be able to provide a service that they would not. I could easily do a short advertisement of many forms. This advertisement could mention the benefits of polishing and how it takes off the soft plaque and is better than brushing. Advertising could also mention how removing all the plaque by also polishing their teeth is more beneficial for the animal. Advertising would need to be done in local papers and maybe the local radio. We would also use a Facebook page and send out reminders to our clients on when it is time for their animal or companion to have a cleaning. Here is an example of a possible advisement for a newspaper or magazine;

This advertisement could be an everyday advertisement for letting people in the area know that I provide teeth cleanings. It could be a nice little reminder that their companion’s teeth are just as important as their own. Since I do not have a lot of horse clients in the area I feel comfortable for them to not be pictured and just to have the more popular animals that would be coming in for a cleaning on the graphic.

I think it would be great to do an equine float clinic day where I would have just emergencies and be open to take walk-ins even for dental floats and give a discount for someone that scheduled ahead. I would advertise this to the local 4-H and FFAs and maybe put it into their newsletter and offer them discounts as well. This could bring in more clients and make it a busier and more successful day of floating.

Another way I would advertise is by offering a discount month on all animals other than the horses since I want them to use the clinic day I have scheduled. With this I would use the month of February as it is National Dental Months. I think dental is extremely important as it can lead to many other disasters if not taken care of. I want regular cleaning services to be as easily and conveientant as possible for all my clients. I think that if I provided cleaning and offered specials and extra services for my clients that it would be beneficial not only for my clients but for my practice as well.