A leading Warwickshire vets is heading up the fight against dental disease by nurturing a new generation of nurse dental champions who are offering help and advice for pets and owners.
Avonvale Veterinary Centre’s nurse dental champions are qualified nurses with a special interest in dentistry, which they use to help educate their colleagues and clients about dental care and disease prevention.
Nurse dental champion, Jasmine Legge, checks the dental health of a patient
Avonvale’s nurse dental champions receive career development and up-skilling via webinars and in-house training and also attend practical workshops.
They receive training from specialists at Eastcott Referrals, in Swindon, which is also part of the Linnaeus Group, and are given access to an abundance of support materials.
Nurse dental champion, Jasmin Legge, said: “We increase owners’ knowledge of what dental treatments can be performed at Avonvale and highlight the welfare benefits of dentistry to them.
“We give our patients a free consultation and take a look to see if they have any dental issues.
“If we believe they do, they will be referred to a vet for this to be confirmed and for them to assess what work is needed.
“We are also able to carry out scale and polishes on animals and we follow this up with educational post-dental checks, giving advice to owners on how to maintain good dental hygiene.
“Dental disease is a common problem and can cause misery for a lot of pets, which is why we want to do all we can to help alleviate the problem and to educate owners on how they can play their part.
“Here at Avonvale, when you have a particular area of interest, you are given amazing opportunities to help develop it. Nurse dental champions are a prime example of this.
“Nurturing clinical excellence in all areas is a priority across all Avonvale’s branches, so we can offer the very best care to our patients, and team members get the chance to develop their skills and knowledge.”
