Referring veterinarians

A majority of our patients already come from referring veterinarians, THANK YOU!

We only conduct treatments within our field of specialty to referred patients.

Specialized veterinary treatments not only benefit the owner and patient, but also the referring veterinarian. Veterinarians build trust with their clients when the client knows their pet will receive a referral to a specialist if needed. It is common for a pet to undergo regular dental treatment with their own veterinarian, where issues needing specialist care are identified OR the referring veterinarian wants to provide other treatment options than extractions to the patient.

Operations that clearly need referral include the following:

• Chronic oronasal fistula, AKA a connection from the oral cavity into the nasal cavity due to periodontitis for example
• Full mouth dental extractions on a cat due to stomatitis AKA inflammation of the mouth
• Extraction of both lower canines at the same time (risk of jaw fracture)
• Root canal treatments
• Vital pulp therapies
• Intraosseous cysts caused by unerupted teeth
• Oral tumors – Instructions for the referring veterinarian: Begin staging and obtain blood samples, dental radiography (when possible), lymph node FNA, biopsies of the tumor – REFER QUICKLY
• Malocclusions – Instructions: the patient should be brought in for a checkup when deciduous teeth are still in place, at about 7-8 weeks old, and again once the permanent teeth have erupted at around 6 months of age – this way all of the treatment options are still available and the prognosis is better
• Jaw fractures – Instructions for the referring veterinarian: Administer first aid. Anna ensiapu. (piste kaksoispisteen sijaan) Stabilize the patient, stabilize the fracture with a tape muzzle (a muzzle made of nylon is great), then refer. Please note: In jaw fracture treatment the best treatment is often a splint attached to the teeth with special materials – plates and wires carry the risk of causing even more damage

We prefer to receive written referrals, which you can send to us either via email or letter.

The written referral doesn’t need to be fancy, just make sure to include key information:

• Owner name and contact information
• Patient name, age, breed, and health status
• Reason for referral
• Specific treatments and/or first aid administered to the problem in question and all current medications
• Laboratory results: PLEASE NOTE: we ask that all dogs and cats over 7 years old have basic blood work obtained. The basic blood parameters we look at for anesthesia are: alat, aphos, crea, urea, tprot, alb, chol, bil, Na, K, Ca, P (AKA VetScan comprehensive) + leuk and HCT. ALSO: we require a urine sample from all patients with chronic kidney disease and a T4 from cat patients over the age of 10.
• Radiographs may also be sent, but we always take preop radiographs as well

We will send back written feedback and information about the procedure to the referring veterinarian.

We do not treat the patients for any other problems than the dental and oral problems they were referred for, unless otherwise requested.