Oral and dental disease is an extremely common and painful condition:
Dental/oral disease is the most common medical issue in small animal medicine.
Oral disease IS painful. However, veterinary patients rarely show signs of pain.
There are numerous significant local and regional consequences of oral infection, and various systemic effects of oral infection.
Due to the substantial amount of pain and infection, including the extreme local, regional and systemic consequences, un- and undertreated oral and dental pathology significantly decreases the patient’s quality of life.
This can and should be interpreted as an animal welfare program.
There is a tremendous lack of dental education in the veterinary.
Less than 20% of veterinary schools in the US - and even fewer worldwide - have a veterinary dentist on staff.