Health Science Center dental hygiene student Adriene Nixon (foreground) demonstrates proper instrumentation while cleaning a dog’s teeth. Catherine Eldridge, a veterinary technician at the Humane Society of San Antonio, looks on.
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A new collaboration has tails wagging at the Humane Society of San Antonio and the promise of a new oral health clinical rotation for dental hygiene students at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.

This spring, faculty and students from the Department of Dental Hygiene in the School of Health Professions were invited to teach veterinary technicians at the Humane Society how to clean the teeth of the shelter’s dogs and cats and to assess their mouths for oral disease, saving the shelter the cost of contracting those services with an outside veterinarian.

Related link: Tips for healthy teeth and gums in pets

Periodontal disease
“Oral health is just as important for pets as it is for people,” said Beatriz Hicks, RDH, M.A., clinical associate professor of dental hygiene, who supervised the student project. “Periodontal disease is one of the most commonly diagnosed diseases in pets, affecting 70 percent of dogs and 60 percent of cats,” she said.

Life-threatening health issues
“Several major complications exist for animals with gum disease and dental disease, such as blood infections and heart problems, but it also affects tooth wear, causes tooth loss, difficulty maintaining good nutrition, infections in their gums and sinuses, and it can be very painful,” said Humane Society veterinarian Courtney Hurst-Bridgeman, D.V.M.

Spring oral health project
During the project, four dental hygiene students gave a presentation to the Humane Society staff about the importance of oral health for animals, then came back another day to teach the veterinary technicians the basics of cleaning the animals’ teeth using an ultrasonic unit featuring a high-powered stream of water to clean tartar and plaque from the teeth. “The dogs got a good cleaning and then the students used a periodontal probe to measure the status of the animal’s gum disease,” Hicks said.

“It was very hands-on,” said Brandon Tigges, one of four recently graduated dental hygiene students who participated in the spring-semester project. “We showed them how to check the pocket depth of the gums, the condition of their gums, and how to recognize oral cancer and identify lesions. Then, we taught them how to use the ultrasonic cleaner, making sure there was no trauma to the animal.”

The students also learned from the experience. “The positioning is a lot harder working with the animals,” Tigges said. “The dogs were under anesthesia so you had to move them, and they had a tracheal tube you had to work around. You had to position yourself to the animal.”

Other students participating in the program this spring were Stacy Maldonado, Liza Martinez and Adriene Nixon.

Dental hygiene students (seated, left to right) Brandon Tigges, Stacy Maldonado, Liza Martinez and Adriene Nixon participated in the oral hygiene project. They were supervised by (standing) Beatriz Hicks, RDH, M.A., clinical associate professor of dental hygiene, and Juanita Wallace, RDH, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the Department of Dental Hygiene.

The Humane Society is already reaping savings by performing oral health check-ups and cleanings in-house, rather than paying for contract services with an outside veterinarian. “We are saving at least $50 per animal, based on the very generous rate our outside veterinarian was charging us to do this,” Dr. Hurst-Bridgeman said. She expects that the Humane Society veterinary technicians will be cleaning the teeth of 15 to 20 animals each month at a projected savings of about $1,000 per month.

Financially beneficial
As an added bonus, the Humane Society staff is now more knowledgeable about the implications of good oral health in pets and is better prepared to educate new pet owners so they can help prolong the lives of their pets.

New clinical rotation planned for spring 2011
And the future looks even brighter. In spring 2011, plans call for approximately 12 to 15 Health Science Center dental hygiene students to return to the Humane Society for a newly established clinical rotation, where they will provide oral cancer screenings, periodontal exams and oral health cleanings under the supervision of Dr. Hurst-Bridgeman, who will soon become a Health Science Center adjunct faculty member.

“This will provide our students with an opportunity for a different kind of clinical experience,” Hicks said. “We’ve had a few of our dental hygienists go on to work or volunteer at zoos or with different animal organizations. It just gives our students a variety of experiences.”

“I think having an arrangement with the dental hygiene students is a fabulous opportunity to share in a mutually beneficial partnership in which we can learn from each other — and the animals will have stronger teeth and gums to boot,” Dr. Hurst-Bridgeman said.