West Coast Veterinary Dental Services

About

Providing dentistry and maxillofacial surgery to dogs, cats, and companion animals in the greater Vancouver area.

Story

There are many reasons a veterinarian may suggest an appointment with a dental specialist, the most important one being that they want to provide the best possible care for your pet. An oral or dental concern may have been noted during a routine visit to your veterinarian, or perhaps you have observed changes in your pets behaviour or eating habits that you feel are cause for concern. The following information will give you an idea of what to expect of a referral to West Coast Veterinary Dental Services.

Your veterinarian will fax a referral form to us detailing your pet's concerns, recent lab results and/or dental radiographs. Upon reviewing the information a member of our team will contact you to discuss setting up a consultation for your pet. During the phone conversation we will do our best to give you some idea of cost, however it is important to realize that this will only be an approximate estimation. It is not possible to provide an accurate estimate of cost until one of our specialists has had the opportunity to thoroughly examine your pets mouth under anaesthetic and with the assistance of dental radiographs. Every case is different and as you can appreciate, many of our patients have very sensitive mouths. It is also our goal to make your pets visit as painless and stress free as possible. Even with the most co-operative pets, it's not possible to fully examine all aspects of the mouth without the use of sedation and/or anaesthesia.

Your cat or dog should not have anything to eat after midnight the night before the consultation. Access to water is fine up until you leave home in the morning. If you are concerned that they will be hungry, consider giving a small snack at bedtime. “Pocket pets”, (rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, etc.) should not have food or water withheld. Once your pet has sufficiently recovered from anaesthetic we will offer them a small quantity of soft food. While we only offer food that is unlikely to cause gastrointestinal upset, please inform us of any dietary restrictions your pet may have.

Based on the referral information from your regular veterinarian and the initial pre-anaesthetic examination our specialist will explain your options for treatment and have a team member prepare and print an estimate for you outlining the expected costs. Our office will be prepared to go ahead with your pets procedure the same day, with your consent. In some cases your pet will need to return for follow up visits or ongoing treatment. We will provide separate estimates for future work; it will not be included on the initial estimate. Payment is due at time of service, we accept Visa, Mastercard, Debit, American Express and Cash. We do not accept personal cheques or post dated payments and do not offer payment plans.

If your pet has not had recent blood work and depending on his or her age and history, we may recommend blood work and/or chest radiographs prior to anaesthesia. You may arrange to have this done in advance with your regular veterinarian or we can provide the services at our office on the same day of your pet's consultation and procedure.

A consent form will be signed by you in order for the recommended procedure to be performed, at which time we require that you provide a phone number(s) where you can reached during the day. Your pet will then be admitted and be provided with a bed and blankets in a kennel that is best suited for their size. The time of your arrival at our office will not dictate what time your pet's procedure is to be performed. While we make every effort possible to accommodate your schedule, every case is different and each patient will be receiving care based on their individual needs; therefore it is not possible to know in advance at what time your pet will be ready to go home.

Once your pet is anaesthetized a thorough examination of the mouth will be performed as well as any necessary dental radiographs. With this information the specialist will determine if any changes need to be made to the initial treatment plan and/or estimate. If so, they will contact you at the phone number you have provided and explain the circumstances prior to continuing with the procedure. It is critical that we be able to reach you at this stage in order for the procedure to continue.

Once your pet's procedure is complete and they are recovering from anaesthetic the specialist will call you with an update and suggest a time for you to pick up your pet. Depending on the procedure performed, your pet may go home with pain preventative and antibiotics. Along with the medication to go home, we will provide you with printed discharge instructions outlining any specific instructions for your pet (i.e. feeding, activity, etc.) and a summary of the treatment they have received. We may recommend a post operative reassessment within 7-10 days of the procedure, which may be done at no charge with us or with your regular veterinarian if that is more convenient for you. Please inquire with your regular veterinarian if there will be a fee for the recheck.

The specialist responsible for your pet's care at West Coast Veterinary Dental Services will create a detailed report of your pet's assessment and the procedure performed, which will be forwarded to your referring veterinarian.

Our team at West Coast Veterinary Dental Services makes every effort to contact our referrals in a timely manner. If your veterinarian has completed your referral to us and you have not received a phone call or voicemail from our office or if you need to make changes to a scheduled visit, please contact us at 604.473.3605. Unless you are scheduling a follow up visit , West Coast Veterinary Dental Services cannot schedule an appointment for your pet without a referral from your regular veterinarian.

We look forward to meeting you and joining your veterinarian in providing quality care to keep your pets happy and healthy.