Dr Elena Nenciulescu from Romania has done her externship with Ana Nemec, DVM, PhD, Dipl. AVDC, Dipl. EVDC at our project LEARN AND TRAVEL with Vets on The Balkans.
We would like to express our gratitude as well to The University of Ljubliana, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Slovenia for the opporunity!
Let her tell us her story:
Last week I had the amazing opportunity to assist Dr. Ana Nemec during dental procedures and dental consultations. It really was AMAZING!
I arrived in Ljubljana on Sunday, July 27th. I had a little rest and the next day my journey in the Slovenian world of veterinary dentistry began. The weekly schedule is usually like this: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are for dental procedures (2-3 cases per day) and Wednesday is only for consultations.
On the first day, Dr. Nemec showed me the clinic (very well equipped, with ultrasound machine, X-ray machine and CT). What really impressed me was the dentistry room. It is fantastic: dental unit, dental X-ray machine, dental table (custom made) and all dental instruments and materials that you need for dental materials for exodontics, endodontics, orthodontics, orthopaedics and oral surgery. It was like heaven for me!
All the dental procedures that I assisted had the following steps:
- Dental consultation under anaesthesia and filling the dental chart (using the periodontal probe, every tooth was examined – mobility, gingival retraction, furcation exposure, gingivitis, periodontal depth)
- Full mouth dental X-rays and interpretation
- Sonic scaling and polishing
- Surgical extractions (the teeth were extracted based on the clinical and radiological findings)
It is important to perform all steps correctly and not to miss any of them. 90% of dentistry cases in general practice are periodontal patients that need periodontal therapy, so this is what all vets should learn to do properly.
I had the chance to see a wide range of cases: mild to severe periodontal disease, stomatitis, tooth resorption, tooth avulsion, crown fractures, chin eosinophilic granuloma, peripheral odontogenic fibroma, intraosseous squamacell carcinoma, endodontic treatment re-check, but also cases of no dental disease that came in only to learn oral homecare which is also a big must for maintaining the oral health of our pets. All cases were discussed in detail.
Dr. Nemec is such a positive person, teaching dentistry is something natural for her. She answered all my questions (and there were many of them). I consider myself very lucky to be given this opportunity. I learned a lot!
But it was not all dental work for me last week, I also visited the city. Ljubljana is beautiful: the castle, the city centre, the museums, the Tivoli Park. It is worth visiting. I enjoyed my stay there very much. On Saturday, August 3rd I traveled back home.
Vets on the Balkans and Luba Gancheva, thank you for giving me this opportunity. Learn and Travel is a fantastic chance to grow professionally. Dr. Ana Nemec, thank you so much sharing all you knowledge with me! I am really grateful for this experience.
