Dentistry

Why it matters on this exam

Small domain, tight content, and heavily rule-based — cheap points if the charting and staging vocabulary is solid.

Key concepts

• Charting: the modified Triadan numbering system, probing depths and their species-normal ranges, furcation and mobility grading, and recording gingival recession.
• Periodontal disease stages: from gingivitis with no attachment loss through to advanced attachment loss, and what each implies for treatment.
• Prophylaxis technique: subgingival scaling is the therapeutic step; polishing follows scaling to smooth enamel; avoid overheating with ultrasonic tips and keep water flow adequate.
• Radiography: full-mouth series indications, bisecting-angle and parallel techniques, and why radiographs change the plan in a majority of cases.
• Feline tooth resorption: presentation, pain signs and why probing under anaesthesia is needed to identify it.
• Home care: brushing as the standard, realistic client instruction, and the limits of dental diets and chews.

Common mistakes

• Polishing without subgingival scaling, which leaves the disease untreated.
• Holding an ultrasonic tip on a tooth too long, generating heat damage to the pulp.

Worked example

A cat has a focal gingival lesion at the cervical margin of a premolar with pain on probing. That pattern suggests tooth resorption, and radiographs are required to determine the type and the appropriate treatment.