New Zealand Veterinary Dentistry Ltd.

04/06/2026

Awww lovely Mallow, such an interesting case and amazing skilled retrieval of that pesky little grass seed with ultrasound guidance by our excellent colleague Dr. Shanaka 🥹👌

Meet lovely Mallow 💛

Mallow presented to us with unusual and concerning signs of suddenly being very painful, with a protruding left eye, and the inability to open his mouth fully.

He was referred to the wonderful Dr Crystal at New Zealand Veterinary Dentistry Ltd., where he underwent an urgent CT scan to assess the structures in his head to try and locate a source of the problem. There was potentially a very small foreign object located deep within the orbit of the left eye, behind the globe, but it was so small it was hard to declare definitively.

During the treatment period, he improved in his ability to open his mouth, but the swelling returned repeatedly, and prominently. He returned to see Dr. Shanaka, for an ultrasound of the area, as now the suspicion for a possible migrating foreign body was higher.

Using ultrasound guidance, Dr. Shanaka found the true culprit – a tiny grass seed! He was able to carefully retrieve this from the delicate area around the eye whilst preserving all the eye and surrounding structures, no easy feat by any means! The above pictures slow the location of the grass seed on a model, and the guilty seed itself!

Mallow made a full recovery with no further complications, and all clinical symptoms resolved, much to the delight of his devoted family and veterinary team. Truly a fantastic result and a great demonstration of the value of close teamwork between primary care veterinarians and specialists to achieve the best possible outcome for our patients.

03/06/2026

Join us next month for our feline dentistry and oral surgery course - all levels of experience welcome! 😻

26/05/2026

Formally introducing Baillie, our new part-time nurse :) We are ever so excited to have Baillie on our team!

Baillie is a fantastic veterinary nurse with over 10 years of experience who brings warm enthusiasm, as well as compassionate and detailed patient care to the team.

Baillie spent a large part of her childhood on her grandparents farm, and always having cats, dogs and horses around meant that animals were always part of her life. She loves being able to help improve the quality of life for so many gorgeous pets on her chosen career path as a vet nurse.

Originally from Hawera, Taranaki, she studied and worked as a veterinary nurse in Hamilton, before spending time volunteering in Rarotonga at the locally run clinic Te Are Manu. There she gained valuable experience in being resourceful and learning to think on her feet. Her passion for dentistry has been built over the years in general practice and through helping manage cases with Dr. Crystal previously, having crossed paths in both New Zealand and Australia. She loves seeing the amazing procedures that are possible, and how these can improve the oral health and quality of life for animals of all ages, shapes and sizes.

She practiced in Sydney for over 5 years before finally returning home to New Zealand after the birth of her joyful little girl, and we are ever so pleased that she did return!

Baillie has two adorable cats - a sweet black and white rescue called Bonbon and a very cheeky Ragdoll, aptly named Stitch.

Please say hello to Baillie the next time you visit us 😍🥰

25/05/2026

Root canal therapy is one of the most common procedures that we perform to salvage principal teeth. Sometimes, these teeth are obviously fractured, and other times - the signs are a lot more subtle!

Please meet two of our lovely patients, Summer and Willow, both of whom came through after their referring vets (Dr. Georgia @ Barkes Corner, and Dr. Shanaka @ Pet Doctors Flagstaff) noted painful, fractured teeth - in Summer, it was for assessment of a fractured canine tooth and fractured carnassial, and for Willow, for a fractured carnassial tooth, both of which were noted on the physical examination.

It was only on the anaesthetised examination that Dr. Crystal picked up additionally fractured molar teeth that were not obvious on the conscious oral examination. Both of these teeth had small oblique fractures off one of the cusps of the lower molar teeth that were facing inwards towards the tongue, with small pinpoint areas of pulp exposure.

These small fractures are enough to cause dramatic long standing root end infections, which may be only visible on radiographs. Summer's fracture had been present for some time, with tooth root abscesses already present.

Both of the procedures were staged, with Summer's molar tooth receiving an intermediate root canal to clear the infection at the base of the roots before the final obturation.

These cases are a good example why a thorough examination of each tooth and full mouth radiography is necessary to diagnose subtle or underlying pathology that may not have overt clinical signs.🌟

Fractures of the upper fourth premolar (a.k.a. maxillary carnassial) may often present with fractures of the associated mandibular first molar tooth (a.k.a. mandibular molar), due to the pattern of force applied on the teeth when chewing very hard substrates. The fracture of the upper tooth may be more clinically obvious than the lower molar, which may be more difficult to examine in an awake animal. 🦷🐕

Root canal therapy is an excellent alternative to extraction, and a great option for salvage of principle teeth like the large chewing teeth at the back of the mouth (upper fourth premolar and first mandibular molar) and the canine teeth. These teeth are termed principle teeth as they are the most structurally and functionally important teeth in our pets' mouths.

The treatment involves removal of all infected pulpal material, shaping and sterilisation of the canal, followed by a final fill with biocompatible materials and a hard-wearing composite restorative which is smoothed. 🤩👌

Loss of these teeth may alter how the animal chews, how rapidly periodontal disease develops on the side of the mouth where the teeth are removed, and may also change the facial structure.

These lovely dogs now have the opportunity to continue chewing normally and maintain these important teeth for the rest of their lives, all thanks to their dedicated owners. 🥰❤️

Summer and Willow, it has been wonderful looking after you and we look forward to seeing you at your follow up revisit! 😍🥰

24/05/2026

Phenomenal efforts from Natalie and her colleagues of the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Brigade - we are so proud of you 🥰

22/05/2026

Our incredible lead nurse Natalie is tackling the Firefighter Skytower Challenge today with the rest of the amazing crew from the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Brigade - show these community heroes a little support and donate today!!

Livestream: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mGdysSQYNFI&ra=m

https://firefighterschallenge.org.nz/natalie-miller?fbclid=IwZnRzaAR9mS9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEektuRCOoHgT9tq-QOUj4xMlXbokDxwiaNj1-i58ML1NlcDTgXUtP_91Gv8fg_aem_27n0k6i1oCsiOhkuraQOvg

Please support my Firefighter Sky Tower Challenge

18/05/2026

Sun, surf, dogs and good company - best way to spend a special Monday afternoon ☀️ 🐕 🌊 Hope this brings you the same joy that it did us for the start of the week 🥹🥰

15/05/2026

Meet beautiful (and we mean BEAUTIFUL) Ivy, a stunning lady who presented to us after being diagnosed with a nasty necrotic lesion affecting her lower right jaw, exposing bone and damaging soft tissue.

At the initial outset, there was some pondering as to whether to take Ivy to surgery versus manage the lesion conservatively. The latter was chosen and Ivy was managed medically and also with the aid of our therapeutic laser from SpectraVET Therapeutic Lasers. Ivy was the ideal candidate for these treatments as she not only permitted treatment of the buccal wound (on the outside of the teeth), but she also patiently allowed her mouth to be held open to have the lesion on the lingual (tongue side) aspect of the teeth to be treated!

She came in regularly over 8 weeks for treatment with our capable nurses and for regular checks with Dr. Crystal - over this time we fell in love with her gentle, calm and elegant manner!! Her mum is also just the best for working into our busy schedules to bring her girl in for all her follow up treatments, ensuring that she had the best possible outcome.

Ivy had a final dental cleaning with radiographs performed by her lovely vet Dr. Sally at CareVets Hamilton South and was given the all clear from Dr. Crystal upon perusal of the images. Despite the severity of the injury, she has healed well and her teeth at present remain vital.

This gorgeous lady is a winner in the showring as well, and it's no wonder with her sweet temperament and stunning looks. Ivy, it has been an absolute pleasure to get to know you and your amazing Mum, sending you all the best for your future!!! 🥰😍

You can follow beautiful Ivy and the rest of the crew on Instagram 🤩

14/05/2026

We have a few more spots available for our feline dentistry wetlab with Practical CPD - if you're wanting to level up your feline dentistry and oral surgery practice then come join us for an action-packed 2 days!

Some prior experience with clinical dental cases, particularly extractions, is recommended, along with a foundational understanding of small animal dentistry. Key Skills: A preliminary discussion around structure and function within the feline oral cavity will help expand on foundational knowledge E...

10/05/2026

We have a few more announcements coming in the near future.. but first, let us briefly introduce our new part time nurse Baillie, who has come back to New Zealand after practicing in Australia for the last little while! She is a brilliant, loving and caring experienced veterinary nurse who has worked with Dr. Crystal previously and we know that she will be a total asset to the NZ Vet Dentistry team!! We will formally introduce her soon - stay tuned! Baillie, WELCOME TO THE TEAM 😍😍😍

We had the absolute honour of celebrating 10 years of veterinary nursing for our fantastic lead nurse Natalie and also for our dear Baillie right before Dr. Crystal departed for Europe.

If you see one of these amazing ladies please congratulate them on this incredible milestone - their passion and dedication to our patients and to furthering their training in the profession is why we can provide a service of the highest possible standard!!!

Baillie and Natalie - congratulations on TEN YEARS and to many, many more 🥳 🍾 🙌 thank you for all you do! ❤️😻🐶