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Welcome everyone to the Positive Veterinary Dentistry Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping veterinary professionals elevate patient care through better dentistry, better diagnostics, and better decision making.
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I'm your host, Benita Altier, licensed veterinary technician, veterinary technician specialist in dentistry, and the founder of Positive Dental Education.
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Whether you're listening in general practice, specialty practice, academia, or you're still in training, this podcast is designed to give you practical insight, historical perspective, and clinical pearls you can take right back to the dental table.
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Today's episode is truly special.
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We're going to step back in time, not just to talk about techniques or materials, but to hear the living history of veterinary dentistry from someone who helped build it.
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This episode is the history of veterinary dentistry in the 20th and 21st century as told by Dr.
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Edward Eisner.
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Dr.
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Eisner has prepared a timeline of stories spanning decades from the early days when veterinary dentistry was barely recognized to the highly specialized advanced discipline we practice today.
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This conversation is less about questions and more about perspective and mentorship, about growth and about how this profession was shaped and what it took to get here.
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So let me introduce my guest.
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Dr.
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Ed Eisner is a board certified diplomate of the American Veterinary Dental College and one of the founding diplomates of the Zoo and Wildlife Dentistry Certificate Program.
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He retired in 2020 as Chief of Dental Services at VCA Highlands Ranch Animal Specialty and Emergency Center in Colorado.
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Over the course of his career, he has served as the president of the American Veterinary Dental College, the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry, the Denver Area Veterinary Medical Society, and the Colorado State Board of Veterinary Medicine.
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He serves as the vice president currently of the Peter Emily International Veterinary Dental Foundation and continues to work on the executive committee of the ABDC Zoo and Wildlife Certificate Program.
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He has authored more than 70 professional papers, more book chapters, textbooks than you can count, and he's received numerous awards, including, which I was very impressed, Colorado Veterinarian of the Year, and also from the technician group as well.
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So welcome to the Positive Veterinary Dentistry Podcast.
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Well, thank you, Benito.
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Very glad to be here, and uh I'm excited to share some of this information with you about the history of a U.S.
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veterinary dentistry in the 20th and 21st century.
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Absolutely.
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I wanted to do this podcast with a focus on history episodes like this because I feel that verbal history is so important to capture.
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People such as yourself had such an instrumental role in creating dentistry as what it is today.
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And I think a lot of veterinary professionals take that for granted.
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They don't really understand what it took to pave the way, be the pioneer in veterinary dentistry to help everyone educate themselves because it wasn't done in veterinary schools.
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So as we start, I'd love to have you use your timeline and your stories that you want to share with us to take us back to the beginning.
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What did dentistry look like when you first entered the veterinary profession out of school?
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Well, if you want to take it, Benita, to the very beginning.
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Okay.
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There were two major time periods.
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The first in which the horse was the focus of most of the attention, and that was because of its importance in transportation, mechanical power, military use, and sport.
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The second period involved the pet domestic animals, initially uh with dogs uh and started to apply to non-domestic animals more recently.
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In the ancient world, we have only a very incomplete glimpse.
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There was a tremendous fire in the Library of the Ancient World in Alexandria in the current era of 391, and we lost 700,000 volumes at that fire.
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We do have approximately a thousand volumes remaining from the ancient Greeks.
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Um of them are in Sanskrit, some of them in Greek, some of them in Roman, some Arabic and Egyptian.
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By the end of the 1800s, the horse was being replaced as a result of the Industrial Revolution.
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That being said, I think we can get into the more salient topic for the day, and that's the current veterinary dental evolution that happened in the mid-1900s, currently in the 2000s.
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So, anyway, very early descriptions of dental and oral surgical procedures in dogs would horrify us today.
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I bet they would.
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It took place in 1976.
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At a meeting, Drs.
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Gary Beard, Don Ross, Dan Hillman, Thane Short, Ben Colmery, and Charles Root orchestrated the birth of the American Veterinary Dental Society.
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No credentials were required, no examination was administered, and Dr.
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Colmery really ran the organization from 1976 to 1984.
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In 1976, I became involved with what was to me to be a 50-year career in veterinary dentistry.
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Amazing.
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This was a time for me when the half-life of veterinary information seemingly was seven years as information floated from California eastward to Denver.
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It was a time when on the front range of Colorado, we had spay clinics were appearing up in Boulder, and vaccination clinics were sprouting up in grocery store parking lots, offering services from mobile units.
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These two factors greatly negatively impacted the incomes of general practitioners.
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So I opened my practice five years earlier in 1971.
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I was in the early stages of being a director of a future very successful AHA hospital.
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It was called the Campus Veterinary Clinic in Denver.
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Two services that propelled me into being among the top 1% of hospitals in North America were proactive comprehensive diagnostics and dentistry.
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The diagnostic stimulus was provided by one of my father figures, John Mullnix.
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John was an endocrinologist at CSU.
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And at dinner one evening, he suggested that to be successful, I should provide services that others could not provide.
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At the time, blood chemistry profiles were generally only provided for animals seven years old and older, and often only with specific tests and with client approval.
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And they had to be really sick patients, too, right?
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We never did routine blood work on anybody just to check their health when they're well, right?
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That's right.
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Yeah.
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So uh at that time, uh my practice, I started performing mandatory full diagnostic chemistry panels at five years of age on all my presurgical patients.
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Remind us what year this is?
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That would be in in 1976.
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Wow, that's amazing.
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That's great.
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I also required and administered intravenous fluids for all the patients undergoing abdominal and orthopedic surgery, whereas in most practices, these services at the time were optional.
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So that was really good foresight to think about the future, not just like how do you make your practice successful right now, but what would the future look like if this continues where some of your general business was being taken away by these vaccine clinics and, as you said, spay and neuter clinics, and you had to pivot.
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The dental stimulus occurred when I read a brief invitation in JAVMA in 1976.
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In the Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association, for$10, I could join the newly forming American Veterinary Dental Society, of which I spoke a few minutes ago.
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It was basically a support group.
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We all contributed to the newsletter sharing our dental experiences, our dental equipment inventory, our supply list, etc.
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It brought together individuals with special interest in the expertise of veterinary dentistry.
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And so in 1976, oh I should say at the time there there was no dentistry taught per se in veterinary schools, other than extracting painful and abscess teeth.
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So to learn more advanced dentistry and into more detail, we had an alternate pathway since it wasn't being taught in the schools, other than extracting these teeth, one had to either take classes at a dental school or study under a dentist.
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And that's a human dentist, correct?
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Yes, yeah.
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So I learned from several dentists.
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Most of us took this as the beginning root in our dental careers.
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No pen intended with beginning root, right?
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For myself, in 1976, a pair of elderly clients, Georgia and Weir Hall, came to my office with a their doxin Leepshin.
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Leepshin had two fractured lower first molars.
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All I could do was extract the teeth.
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And Mrs.
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Hall said, well, she'd have her dentist call me.
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And I said, Oh sure.
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Well, she hadn't left the office for a half hour before I received a call from Dr.
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Martin Allen.
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He says, I'm I'm a dentist, and if you know Georgia Hall, you know why I couldn't say no.
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When can we do it?
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Okay, that's amazing.
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I love it.
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So he came to my office, he brought him s with him a belt-driven electric piccolo arm dental drill, a laboratory drill.
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Wow.
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And I provided anesthesia and he performed root canal therapy on those two molars and saved the teeth.
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Wow, that's great.
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And I was duly impressed.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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It wasn't a month later, I was at a party in Castle Rock, a southern suburb of Denver, sitting next to a man at a bar in the host basement, and he said, My name's George Russell, and I'm a dermatologist from Boulder.
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And I'd like to trade professional questions with you.
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And I showed him a bump on the back of my hand, and he told me it was a ganglion, he picked up a book and whacked it and it went away.
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He said, Okay, my turn.
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Yeah, okay.
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He said, I have an old English sheepdog named Porky.
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And Porky needs a root canal therapy, and I have a dentist who'll do it.
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But I need someone to anesthetize the dog.
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We set a date at my office, and I provided anesthesia, and Dr.
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Bob Olson provided the dentistry.
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He's a a human dentist.
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And while we're having dinner afterwards with our wives, waiting for Porky to wake up from his anesthesia.
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Dr.
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Olson offered for me to come to his office on my days off to observe and see some dentistry.
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And I did this for the next two years.
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After two years, he uh brought out a shine catalog and helped me order some equipment and instruments, and I became the owner of my own belt-driven electric piccolo armed dental drill.
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I was in business.
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Anyway, the next year I decided every dog and cat in my practice should have its teeth cleaned, which was unusual.
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Very and ultrasonic scalers were brand new to the field, not yet in my possession.
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So I cleaned the teeth manually with a hand instrument.
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The following year the teeth were worse.
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I felt terrible.
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So I at that point I went to uh the national AHA meeting in Salt Lake City in 1978, and I spoke with the grandfather of veterinary dentistry.
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His name was Don Ross from Houston, and he gave me some pointers to improve my technique, including the value of ultrasonic scaling and polishing, and my patients did much better the following year.
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In 1982, I met Peter Emily, also a human dentist.
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We met at a catered reception during the opening of the new Denver Zoo Hospital.
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Someone who knew us both introduced us.
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Peter and I became instant friends.
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And we traveled to Las Vegas the following February to the Western Veterinary Conference, and there were speakers from the American Veterinary Dental Society.
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There were five speakers Gary Beard, Ben Colmery, Tom Mulligan, Don Ross, and Chuck Williams.
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These names you continually hear that were in the foundation of organized veterinary dentistry.
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We had found a home, Peter and I.
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We exchanged ideas with these half dozen speakers.
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Pete was, as well as being a dentist, was an American Kennel Club dog show judge for working dogs.
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And he would see problems in the show ring and he'd send them to my office for the following Thursday.
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And he came to my office every Thursday for three years.
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If it wasn't for Peter Emily, we would not have a dental college today.
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He was he may not have been the grandfather of veterinary dentists, but he was the godfather.
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Being of Italian descent, he was very proud of it.
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So he helped me buy a used x-ray machine, dental x-ray machine.
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And I learned a tremendous amount of dentistry from he and Betty Glass, his expanded chairside assistant.
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In 1985, the AHA meeting in Orlando, a AVDS representatives, Chuck Williams again and Tom Mulligan, met with them AVMA American Board Veterinary Specialists, the ABVS, members Doctors Don Sawyer and Bill Jackson, and Bill Kay, well-known figures in early veterinary medicine in the United States, to discuss appropriate means for obtaining specialty recognition.
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Well those guys were told that it was inappropriate to advertise a specialty if the service would not be readily available on a national basis.
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The concept was they suggested we should form a group with qualifying standards, with credentials review, with an examination for membership, and use that as a preparatory step for the formation of an AVMA recognized specialty organization.
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So a lot of time and effort went into this.
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A committee was formed to pursue the forming of an academy.
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It had to be.
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With this information, a constitution and bylaws for the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry was drafted.
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In 1986, the Academy was created.
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Sounds like a scary concept.
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Oh, good job.
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I passed it and became a charter fellow of the Academy.
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I was elected its president in 1988 and 89.
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In 1987, the Academy was legally incorporated in Michigan.
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And the first credentials review and examination process were conducted in 1986 and 87 by three persons eminently qualified in veterinary dentistry.
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Dr.
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Keith Grove.
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He was a human dentist.
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He was a veterinarian graduate from University of Pennsylvania.
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He had a m master's degree in periodontology.
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He lived in Faroe Beach, Florida.
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Don Ross was the second person.
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He was from Houston.
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He had an MS degree in dentistry from the University of Texas Dental School.
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And he was a veterinarian.
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And then there was Peter Emily from Lakewood, Colorado.
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At the time, Peter had about 20 years of extensive experience in veterinary dentistry, working in collaboration with veterinarians in zoos and small animal practice.
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And he was the adjunct faculty uh member at the College of Veterinary Medicine at CSU.
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So these guys were subsequently required to take credentials and examination processes also before being accepted to full membership, or they remained as an honorary member, which Peter did.
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So we had the um Academy was being formed, um, and we called for interested persons to make application for membership.
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Forty-four veterinary insubmitted credentials, 35 were permitted entry to the exam, and 25 passed.
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The first examination were certified as Fellows of the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry, AVD.
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Gary Beard was elected the first president.
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Dr.
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Charles Williams, president-elect, Colin Harvey, Secretary Treasurer, and myself and Ben Colmery were on the board of directors as members at large.
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Subsequently, we had standing committees organized for the new credentials, review, and examination committees.
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In 1987, it was a big stepping stone.
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The Academy of Veterinary Dentistry sponsored a comprehensive continued educational forum in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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It was the first of the American veterinary dental forums.
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Cincinnati, Ohio.
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I did not know that, so that's a new one for me.
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I'd never looked back to see where the first BDF was held.
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We invited the heads of anatomy and surgery departments of all 23 veterinary schools complimentarily with invitations to attend our meeting.
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And it was a huge success.
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May 12th, the next year, 1988, because of the rapid and successful development of the economy, the ABVS, the American Board of Veterinary Specialties, realized they had no control.
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We were doing this independently, which is not enjoyed by politicians.
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So they recommended that we make application with the AVMA for the establishment of an officially recognized specialty college in veterinary dentistry.
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An organizing committee of eight accepted by the AVMA, ABVS, was made up, and the chairman was Charles Williams, Gary Beard again, Ben Colmery, Keith Grove, Colin Harvey, Sandra Manfra from the University of Illinois, and Tom Mulligan from San Diego, and Don Ross, with Peter Emily as an advisory member.
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This resulted in quite a bit of jealousy and resentment among many Academy fellows who weren't included in the organizing committee.
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Facetiously we referred to them as the gang of eight.
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Early AVD members, this was because A V D members had been members of the AVDS.
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Many had grown up together with those chosen eight, acquiring a similar initial dental education.
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Many perceived themselves as equally qualified, and some were but actually the chosen eight were either politically.
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Tightly connected with the AVMA hierarchy, or they were double boarded in the AVMA, or they were connected with human dentistry.
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So they were eminently qualified.
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And the AVMA would not entertain any requests that we made to expand the size of the organizing committee.
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It was limited to eight.
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In 1988, the American Veterinary Dental College became a reality with the AVMA organizing dentistry as a bona fide standalone specialty organization.
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To be a member required three more years of study, another more extensive credentials package, and more involved three-day written and practical examination.
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I passed that first examination and was accepted as an entry-level specialist and expert in the field.
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What was the study involving during those three years?
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Did you or others have mentors that you met regularly, or was it something just Pete was my mentor?
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Pete Emily.
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Mentor, friend, and colleague.
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And we lectured nationally and internationally for 40 years.
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Yeah.
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In 2021, we published the first hardback textbook in Zoo and Wildlife, Wild Animal Dentistry.
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And that's cementing his legacy of 50 years performing advanced level oral care on captive wild animals.
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We cited in that book 352 species with endodonic and surgical descriptions for many of them.
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So that's, you know, and the others they had their mentors.
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Peter was mine.
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Yeah.
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So people did have someone, a human dentist, most likely, that they worked with because there weren't very many veterinary professionals that could mentor someone at that time, right?
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Absolutely.
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So in 1988, provisional approval for the AVDC was granted by the ABVS on July 17th.
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The ABVS set a goal for us, okay?
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We had to have a hundred diplomates to have sufficient perceived specialty dental coverage to provide adequate service to the nation.
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They estimated it would take us 10 years to do this.
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Steve Holmstrom, he was the fourth AVDC president from 1994 to 96.
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I was the fifth from 1996 to 98.
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Okay.
00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:51.680
So in 96, after giving presentations at the National AHA meeting in Boston, Steve and I flew to Schalmsburg, Illinois, and promised the ABVS we would have those hundred diplomates within a year.
00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:52.720
Okay.
00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:55.039
Campaign promises.
00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:56.480
Exactly.
00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:04.000
We didn't quite meet that goal, but our promise resulted in the same desirable successful outcome.
00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:11.200
1997, the VDC was awarded full recognition as an AVMA specialty organization.
00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:13.279
Well, I was the college president.
00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:17.680
Exactly after 10 years of the initial probation.
00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:23.920
We were awarded that honor in Reno at the annual AVMA meeting in July 1997.
00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:25.279
Excellent.
00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:26.000
Wow.
00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:31.359
What a journey to just get to that point to have your hundred members.
00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.960
And the work effort was tremendous.
00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:38.880
I mean, we're talking in the 80s.
00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:44.079
We didn't, you know, we had computers, but we didn't have an internet till the 90s.
00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:52.319
It was all done by hand, typed, copied, uh, with white out marks and a whole bit.
00:25:52.640 --> 00:26:00.240
My credentials package was two binders four inches thick when I submitted my credentials.
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:02.319
Very labor intensive.
00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:08.559
Today we have a a DMS or a document management system much more streamlined.
00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:09.359
Yes.
00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:19.119
I don't think people realize what a heavy lift that is and how dedicated you have to be to make that work when you don't have the technology and tools that we have today.
00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:22.000
Well, and I didn't know how I was going to do it.
00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:27.119
I had a new child and which took a lot of family time.
00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:36.559
I would get up at three in the morning and study for two hours every day before family woke up and we'd start the day.
00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:38.880
I did this I did this for three years.
00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:42.079
Yeah, and you were running your own practice as well, right?
00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:43.759
Trying to keep your practice successfully.
00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:51.519
So what did dentistry look like at your practice between 1988, 87, and 97?
00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:55.839
I had a a general AHA practice of medicine and surgery.
00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:58.319
Were you growing the number of patients?
00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:06.720
Because you mentioned that your goal was to have every dog and cat in your practice get anesthetized to have their teeth cleaned.
00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:11.359
Is that something that you were seeing improvements with the general public at that time?
00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:17.680
Because we have to educate the pet parents, so to speak, to get them to say yes to what we're offering.
00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:20.799
How did you find that to be between that time period?
00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:24.720
Well, my uh staff said I had a silver tongue.
00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:25.440
Okay.
00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:33.599
As I tell people getting into practice, you have to know your your craft.
00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:46.240
And once you feel secure that you're providing the service that you're advertising, your clients will hear it in the tone of your voice.
00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:49.759
If you're not so sure, they don't sign up.
00:27:50.400 --> 00:28:05.440
So to get back to where we were, we were AVDC was awarded full recognition as an AVMA specialty organization in 1997 in July.
00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:20.720
And there was obviously potential at this point for public misunderstanding of the difference in the qualifications to be an a fellow of the academy or a diplomate of the college.
00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:25.279
Anyway, there was considerable overlap between the two.
00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:33.200
It just was increased credentials and a longer examination, etc., uh, to become a diplomate.
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:39.279
Many uh of us in the college were still members of the academy, and I still am today.
00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:42.960
And the academy no longer exists today.
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:51.359
It doesn't have a credentials package, it doesn't have an examination, it's basically a committee in the college.
00:28:51.599 --> 00:29:11.440
The academy always, once the college was established, was kind of used as feeder stock, if you will, a stepping stone to the academy, because you do your credentials for the academy and the examination, and then you just add to them a bit and then make application to the college.
00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:16.559
But the academy was never recognized by the AVMA.
00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:22.799
Only the American Veterinary Dent Dental College is an AVMA organization.
00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:30.400
In 2023, the Foundation for Veterinary Dentistry was formed.
00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:33.519
And this is was to solve the problem.
00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:41.519
It brought the Dental Society, the Academy, and the College all under the same umbrella in the foundation.
00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:47.119
The AVDS, the society, ceased to exist.
00:29:47.519 --> 00:30:00.880
The members st still paid dues and received a journal of veterinary dentistry, but they were now foundation members without being encumbered with a credentialing process or an examination.
00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:16.960
The foundation co-sponsored the American Veterinary Dental Forum, and the Journal of Veterinary Dentistry became the official journal of the organization and eleven other national and international veterinary dental organizations.
00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:23.440
I think you said 2023, but did you mean 2003?
00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:25.440
Or was it 23.
00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:26.400
23, okay.
00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:32.880
Just recently, just recently we had a foundation that brought it all under an umbrella.
00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:35.759
Okay politics grinds slowly.
00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:36.480
Mm-hmm.
00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:37.759
Okay, okay.
00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:40.640
For some reason I thought that was farther ago.
00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:51.039
So with this foundation, the the college kept its individual identity as the recognized specialty organization of the AVMA.
00:30:51.599 --> 00:31:17.839
In 2025, just last year, we finally got veterinary dental specialist and board certified veterinary dentist to be registered trademarks because we you continually have problems of people exaggerating their status, calling themselves specialists when they have nowhere near specialist abilities.
00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:18.559
Correct.
00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:21.359
So th this helps protect that.
00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:24.720
Yeah, that was a great accomplishment to get that.
00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:25.279
Yeah.
00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:28.319
So that's where we are as veterinarians.
00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:31.920
Then we come to the veterinary technician evolution.
00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:33.599
Exactly.
00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:41.599
The expansion of veterinary technician dental education and expertise was another aspect of this dental evolution.
00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:48.640
Technician programs accredited by the AVMA were developed in the nineteen seventies.
00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:55.039
But similar to veterinary schools, dentistry as a separate discipline was not taught.
00:31:56.319 --> 00:32:15.759
In the nineteen nineties, the Henry Schein Dental Distributor Company, spearheaded by their sales manager, Jerry Selen, created the American Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians, ASVDT.
00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:21.200
It was an uncomplicated, unaccredited beginning.
00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:23.279
Mr.
00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:38.640
Selen wrote an educational compendium, created a take-home examination, collected a fee, and a veterination could receive the educational materials and a take-home book examination.
00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:47.680
Once the tuition fee was collected, they received a certificate of completion and a membership to the ASVDT.
00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:50.079
I was one of those people that did that.
00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:50.799
Yeah.
00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:52.240
Well, it was the beginning.
00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:54.640
It was what we had available to us, yeah.
00:32:55.440 --> 00:33:02.799
There was no oversight, and the quality of the ASVDT members understandably varied tremendously.
00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:08.640
And it tainted the perceived overall quality of veterinary dental community.
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:17.680
In 1998, Bob Wiggs succeeded me, Ed Eisner, as president of the AVDC.
00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:36.319
In 1999, two years after the AVDC was recognized as a full VSO or veterinary specialty organization, Bob created an ad hoc veterinary technician certification committee with myself as the chair.
00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:41.920
And Steve Holmstrom and Jan Bellows were members of our committee.
00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:50.720
And we were tasked with investigating the feasibility of the certification of veterinary dental technicians.
00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:54.319
I contacted Mr.
00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:56.160
Patrick Navarre.
00:33:57.119 --> 00:34:02.799
He was the executive director of the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America.
00:34:07.200 --> 00:34:16.480
He indicated that the AVDC would be welcome to apply to NAVTA to be the sponsoring organization of the veterinary dental technicians.
00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:34.079
He indicated that Navta Committee on Veterinary Dental Specialties would be reviewing the application and that only certified veterinary technicians would be acceptable in order to receive AVMA recognition as a veterinary specialty organization.
00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:46.320
His recommendation was to duplicate the AVMA requirements for VSO with very minor modifications to the AVDC package.
00:34:49.760 --> 00:34:53.519
Two colleges had done this in the technicians.
00:34:54.159 --> 00:35:01.679
They were the Academy of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Technicians and the Academy of Veterinary Technician Anesthetists.
00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:16.079
I enlisted the my colleague, Steve Holmstrom, who, as I, had previously chaired the AVDC Credentials and Examination Committees, and also was a past AVDC president.
00:35:16.480 --> 00:35:30.400
And together we modeled a credentials package and dental technician examination in the same image as the AVDC, but with reduced technician requirements in time commitment and level of expertise.
00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:39.440
These two programs were approved by the AVDC in 2000 and the AVDT was off and running.
00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:52.559
Steve and I assisted in administering their examinations for the first few years, just to make sure quality control.
00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:53.599
Yes.
00:35:54.239 --> 00:36:11.840
I enlisted my certified veterinary technician, Sarah Sharp, to join me in creating an inaugural group of highly motivated technicians to form the veterinary technician group with verifiable, highly qualified dental expertise.
00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:30.719
Yes, and Sarah Sharp was one of my original mentors, and I'm so grateful to her and all of her contribution to this, especially in the beginning there, where you saw the need for technicians to have a higher level of expertise and understanding, not just the veterinarians, right?
00:36:30.800 --> 00:36:46.639
So that's super important that you were a part of that when and had that vision because we wouldn't have what we have today as technicians without the support of the whole entire veterinary team, including veterinarians like you.
00:36:47.280 --> 00:36:48.480
Absolutely.
00:36:49.119 --> 00:37:07.840
So Sarah and I placed open invitations in the Journal of American Veterinary Association and in the Journal of Veterinary Dentistry for people interested in assisting the in the development of the newly forming Academy of Veterinary Dental Technicians, the AVDT.
00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:15.679
We invited them to attend a February meeting at the Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas in 2001.
00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:32.159
I and Sarah arranged for the first meeting in 2001 at the Western Veterinary Conference, and those who showed up were grandfathered in as the organizing committee for the future VDT specialists.
00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:42.800
All of the attending twelve technicians were either certified, registered, or licensed veterinary technicians in their respective home state.
00:37:43.599 --> 00:37:49.679
All had extensive experience either working for or with an AVDC diplomate.
00:37:51.599 --> 00:37:55.519
It was attended by myself and those twelve technicians.
00:37:55.920 --> 00:38:21.119
They were Sarah Sharp, Jeannie Vitto, Vicky Baird, Wendy Bauer, Pam Noel, Susan Berrihill, Thomas Koenig, Judy Ozier, Kathy Sylvester, Mary Berg, Jerry Ann Holstrom, and Sue Elder.
00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:22.320
And Sue Elder.
00:38:22.400 --> 00:38:24.079
She was one of my mentors as well.
00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:26.639
Tommy was my official mentor.
00:38:26.880 --> 00:38:40.079
I did not know them in 2001, and I did not attend that meeting because I didn't know that was happening, but I I met them in 2002 at the Veterinary Dental Forum in Savannah, Georgia.
00:38:40.239 --> 00:38:40.960
Is that correct?
00:38:41.119 --> 00:38:43.360
Was Savannah in 2002?
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:44.400
Yes.
00:38:44.639 --> 00:38:44.880
Yeah.
00:38:45.039 --> 00:38:46.480
So that's where I met them.
00:38:46.719 --> 00:38:52.960
So that was how I got them on my radar, and I was like, wow, this is really cool what they're trying to do here.
00:38:53.360 --> 00:39:05.119
So at that first meeting, those 12 elected Jeannie Viteau as president, Vicky Bayard was the president-elect, and Sarah Sharp was the secretary.
00:39:07.440 --> 00:39:15.840
By 2005, the AVDT was self-governing, and my role was as their advisor from the AVDC.
00:39:16.400 --> 00:39:30.320
It took them five years, and in 2006, they were accredited with NAVTA as the third veterinary technician specialty organization designated a VTS dentistry.
00:39:30.639 --> 00:39:32.000
Yes, that's amazing.
00:39:32.159 --> 00:39:37.360
We're celebrating our 20-year anniversary this year of that accomplishment.
00:39:38.400 --> 00:39:46.079
So generally speaking, providing specialized dental services has been a response to consumer demand.
00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:51.440
You know, w without consumer wanting it, it none of this would ever occur.
00:39:52.000 --> 00:40:06.800
Just like the whole uh beginning of the technicians society was because people were tired of having a one or two percent death rate in space.
00:40:08.159 --> 00:40:11.039
You know, so technician schools started to spring up.
00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:13.760
And that that's how it all got started.
00:40:14.159 --> 00:40:14.400
Yeah.
00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:30.719
Anyway, uh it's particularly true in preventive aspects of dentistry, has become increasingly important as the understanding of the tr interactions between oral diseases and systemic health has increased.
00:40:31.119 --> 00:40:39.039
There are now university veterinary dental residency programs in numerous universities in North America.
00:40:39.360 --> 00:40:50.400
Veterinary dentistry is well established as an important discipline when providing comprehensive health care for animals while optimizing their overall well-being.
00:40:51.039 --> 00:41:14.880
As of a few days ago, February 25th, 2026, the expanding veterinary dental profession has 293 active AVDC diplomates, six equine residency programs, and 77 small animal residency programs approved by the AVDC.
00:41:16.079 --> 00:41:25.360
And there are 125 VTS dentistry technician specialists with more making applications as I write.
00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:29.840
So this is going to be an exciting 20th anniversary for you.
00:41:30.320 --> 00:41:32.880
Yes, yes, we hope to have a good group there.
00:41:33.039 --> 00:41:39.280
We're going to celebrate at the Veterinary Dental Forum in Orlando, Florida, in October.
00:41:39.599 --> 00:41:58.400
And this is a huge part of it, just really even knowing the history and the foresight that these people had to put this all together and then to be able to be a part of maintaining that and making it better and strong as we work towards the next 50 years.
00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:07.760
So there are just to wrap it up, there were 10 key dates in the 50-year evolution of veterinary dentistry.
00:42:08.079 --> 00:42:13.119
In 1976, the society was formed, the AVDS.
00:42:13.599 --> 00:42:18.559
In 1986, the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry was formed.
00:42:18.800 --> 00:42:24.000
In 1987 was the first veterinary dental forum in Cincinnati.
00:42:24.960 --> 00:42:31.679
In 1988, the AVDC received provisional recognition as a VSO.
00:42:32.880 --> 00:42:39.360
Ten years later, in 1997, the AVDC received full recognition as a VSO.
00:42:40.079 --> 00:42:51.440
In 2023, the Foundation for Veterinary Dentistry was formed, board certified veterinary dentists and veterinary dental specialists becoming registered trademarks.
00:42:52.800 --> 00:43:01.280
For the technicians, 1990s, the ASVDT was the very beginning with Jerry Shellen and Henry Schein.
00:43:01.519 --> 00:43:07.679
In 1999, the ad hoc committee of the dental college was formed.
00:43:07.920 --> 00:43:14.559
And in 2001, the first meeting of the AVDT occurred at the Western Veterinary Conference.
00:43:14.800 --> 00:43:25.280
And in 2006, the VTS accredited the with NAVTA as the third veterinary technician specialist dentistry.
00:43:25.519 --> 00:43:27.440
So that's our history.
00:43:28.719 --> 00:43:34.400
I feel really fortunate just to have been in that time period.
00:43:34.639 --> 00:43:35.280
You know?
00:43:41.519 --> 00:43:42.960
The time, the time.
00:43:44.159 --> 00:43:48.639
And if you're there and you're paying attention, you can be one.
00:43:48.960 --> 00:43:58.239
Thank you so much for listening in today to the Positive Veterinary Dentistry podcast and part one of a two part series with Doctor Edward Eisner.
00:43:58.559 --> 00:43:59.760
It's been really fun listening.
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:06.000
To his recounting of the history and the humble beginnings of veterinary dentistry.
00:44:06.159 --> 00:44:10.800
So please stay tuned for part two so that you can learn a little bit more about Dr.
00:44:10.880 --> 00:44:18.079
Edward Eisner, his passion projects, what he's up to today, and his take on the future of veterinary dentistry.
00:44:18.239 --> 00:44:21.199
We really look forward to it, so I hope we will see you there.
00:44:21.280 --> 00:44:25.679
And I know a lot of veterinary professionals out there don't know this podcast exists.
00:44:25.760 --> 00:44:33.039
So we would love it if you would share, like, subscribe, and listen wherever you listen to podcasts, watch the video on my YouTube channel.
00:44:33.199 --> 00:44:39.840
For now, keep doing positive veterinary dentistry, and we'll see you in part two of this two-part series.
00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:22.079
Welcome everyone to the Positive Veterinary Dentistry Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping veterinary professionals elevate patient care through better dentistry, better diagnostics, and better decision making.
00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:31.199
I'm your host, Benita Altier, licensed veterinary technician, veterinary technician specialist in dentistry, and the founder of Positive Dental Education.
00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:44.719
Whether you're listening in general practice, specialty practice, academia, or you're still in training, this podcast is designed to give you practical insight, historical perspective, and clinical pearls you can take right back to the dental table.
00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:47.439
Today's episode is truly special.
00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:55.920
We're going to step back in time, not just to talk about techniques or materials, but to hear the living history of veterinary dentistry from someone who helped build it.
00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:02.240
This episode is the history of veterinary dentistry in the 20th and 21st century as told by Dr.
00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:03.359
Edward Eisner.
00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:03.920
Dr.
00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:14.480
Eisner has prepared a timeline of stories spanning decades from the early days when veterinary dentistry was barely recognized to the highly specialized advanced discipline we practice today.
00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:24.239
This conversation is less about questions and more about perspective and mentorship, about growth and about how this profession was shaped and what it took to get here.
00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:26.799
So let me introduce my guest.
00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:27.280
Dr.
00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:36.480
Ed Eisner is a board certified diplomate of the American Veterinary Dental College and one of the founding diplomates of the Zoo and Wildlife Dentistry Certificate Program.
00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:45.280
He retired in 2020 as Chief of Dental Services at VCA Highlands Ranch Animal Specialty and Emergency Center in Colorado.
00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:58.799
Over the course of his career, he has served as the president of the American Veterinary Dental College, the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry, the Denver Area Veterinary Medical Society, and the Colorado State Board of Veterinary Medicine.
00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:10.400
He serves as the vice president currently of the Peter Emily International Veterinary Dental Foundation and continues to work on the executive committee of the ABDC Zoo and Wildlife Certificate Program.
00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:26.000
He has authored more than 70 professional papers, more book chapters, textbooks than you can count, and he's received numerous awards, including, which I was very impressed, Colorado Veterinarian of the Year, and also from the technician group as well.
00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:29.599
So welcome to the Positive Veterinary Dentistry Podcast.
00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:31.439
Well, thank you, Benito.
00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:40.719
Very glad to be here, and uh I'm excited to share some of this information with you about the history of a U.S.
00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:44.719
veterinary dentistry in the 20th and 21st century.
00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:45.919
Absolutely.
00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:54.240
I wanted to do this podcast with a focus on history episodes like this because I feel that verbal history is so important to capture.
00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:00.479
People such as yourself had such an instrumental role in creating dentistry as what it is today.
00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:03.840
And I think a lot of veterinary professionals take that for granted.
00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:15.759
They don't really understand what it took to pave the way, be the pioneer in veterinary dentistry to help everyone educate themselves because it wasn't done in veterinary schools.
00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:25.919
So as we start, I'd love to have you use your timeline and your stories that you want to share with us to take us back to the beginning.
00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:31.759
What did dentistry look like when you first entered the veterinary profession out of school?
00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:35.759
Well, if you want to take it, Benita, to the very beginning.
00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:36.240
Okay.
00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:39.280
There were two major time periods.
00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:50.319
The first in which the horse was the focus of most of the attention, and that was because of its importance in transportation, mechanical power, military use, and sport.
00:03:51.039 --> 00:04:03.360
The second period involved the pet domestic animals, initially uh with dogs uh and started to apply to non-domestic animals more recently.
00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:08.240
In the ancient world, we have only a very incomplete glimpse.
00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:23.040
There was a tremendous fire in the Library of the Ancient World in Alexandria in the current era of 391, and we lost 700,000 volumes at that fire.
00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:31.040
We do have approximately a thousand volumes remaining from the ancient Greeks.
00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:39.199
Um of them are in Sanskrit, some of them in Greek, some of them in Roman, some Arabic and Egyptian.
00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:45.759
By the end of the 1800s, the horse was being replaced as a result of the Industrial Revolution.
00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:59.439
That being said, I think we can get into the more salient topic for the day, and that's the current veterinary dental evolution that happened in the mid-1900s, currently in the 2000s.
00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:10.000
So, anyway, very early descriptions of dental and oral surgical procedures in dogs would horrify us today.
00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:10.959
I bet they would.
00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:36.000
It took place in 1976.
00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:37.839
At a meeting, Drs.
00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:51.439
Gary Beard, Don Ross, Dan Hillman, Thane Short, Ben Colmery, and Charles Root orchestrated the birth of the American Veterinary Dental Society.
00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:57.600
No credentials were required, no examination was administered, and Dr.
00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:03.360
Colmery really ran the organization from 1976 to 1984.
00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:12.959
In 1976, I became involved with what was to me to be a 50-year career in veterinary dentistry.
00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:14.319
Amazing.
00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:25.600
This was a time for me when the half-life of veterinary information seemingly was seven years as information floated from California eastward to Denver.
00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:41.120
It was a time when on the front range of Colorado, we had spay clinics were appearing up in Boulder, and vaccination clinics were sprouting up in grocery store parking lots, offering services from mobile units.
00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:48.000
These two factors greatly negatively impacted the incomes of general practitioners.
00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:53.279
So I opened my practice five years earlier in 1971.
00:06:53.519 --> 00:07:00.000
I was in the early stages of being a director of a future very successful AHA hospital.
00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:04.560
It was called the Campus Veterinary Clinic in Denver.
00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:16.319
Two services that propelled me into being among the top 1% of hospitals in North America were proactive comprehensive diagnostics and dentistry.
00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:24.240
The diagnostic stimulus was provided by one of my father figures, John Mullnix.
00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:28.240
John was an endocrinologist at CSU.
00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:36.480
And at dinner one evening, he suggested that to be successful, I should provide services that others could not provide.
00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:49.519
At the time, blood chemistry profiles were generally only provided for animals seven years old and older, and often only with specific tests and with client approval.
00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.480
And they had to be really sick patients, too, right?
00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:57.920
We never did routine blood work on anybody just to check their health when they're well, right?
00:07:58.399 --> 00:07:58.959
That's right.
00:07:59.199 --> 00:07:59.519
Yeah.
00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:11.439
So uh at that time, uh my practice, I started performing mandatory full diagnostic chemistry panels at five years of age on all my presurgical patients.
00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:13.600
Remind us what year this is?
00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:17.360
That would be in in 1976.
00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:19.439
Wow, that's amazing.
00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:20.639
That's great.
00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:34.159
I also required and administered intravenous fluids for all the patients undergoing abdominal and orthopedic surgery, whereas in most practices, these services at the time were optional.
00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:57.440
So that was really good foresight to think about the future, not just like how do you make your practice successful right now, but what would the future look like if this continues where some of your general business was being taken away by these vaccine clinics and, as you said, spay and neuter clinics, and you had to pivot.
00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:05.840
The dental stimulus occurred when I read a brief invitation in JAVMA in 1976.
00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:17.840
In the Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association, for$10, I could join the newly forming American Veterinary Dental Society, of which I spoke a few minutes ago.
00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.240
It was basically a support group.
00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:29.120
We all contributed to the newsletter sharing our dental experiences, our dental equipment inventory, our supply list, etc.
00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:35.440
It brought together individuals with special interest in the expertise of veterinary dentistry.
00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:50.960
And so in 1976, oh I should say at the time there there was no dentistry taught per se in veterinary schools, other than extracting painful and abscess teeth.
00:09:51.840 --> 00:10:11.519
So to learn more advanced dentistry and into more detail, we had an alternate pathway since it wasn't being taught in the schools, other than extracting these teeth, one had to either take classes at a dental school or study under a dentist.
00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:13.679
And that's a human dentist, correct?
00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:14.559
Yes, yeah.
00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:17.600
So I learned from several dentists.
00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:21.759
Most of us took this as the beginning root in our dental careers.
00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:25.039
No pen intended with beginning root, right?
00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:38.480
For myself, in 1976, a pair of elderly clients, Georgia and Weir Hall, came to my office with a their doxin Leepshin.
00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:42.879
Leepshin had two fractured lower first molars.
00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:45.600
All I could do was extract the teeth.
00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:46.320
And Mrs.
00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:49.120
Hall said, well, she'd have her dentist call me.
00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:51.120
And I said, Oh sure.
00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:58.960
Well, she hadn't left the office for a half hour before I received a call from Dr.
00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:00.240
Martin Allen.
00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:05.279
He says, I'm I'm a dentist, and if you know Georgia Hall, you know why I couldn't say no.
00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:06.159
When can we do it?
00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:07.679
Okay, that's amazing.
00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:08.799
I love it.
00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:19.039
So he came to my office, he brought him s with him a belt-driven electric piccolo arm dental drill, a laboratory drill.
00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:19.600
Wow.
00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:26.799
And I provided anesthesia and he performed root canal therapy on those two molars and saved the teeth.
00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:28.159
Wow, that's great.
00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:30.480
And I was duly impressed.
00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:31.759
Yeah.
00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:32.320
Yeah.
00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:48.879
It wasn't a month later, I was at a party in Castle Rock, a southern suburb of Denver, sitting next to a man at a bar in the host basement, and he said, My name's George Russell, and I'm a dermatologist from Boulder.
00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:52.480
And I'd like to trade professional questions with you.
00:11:53.039 --> 00:12:00.720
And I showed him a bump on the back of my hand, and he told me it was a ganglion, he picked up a book and whacked it and it went away.
00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:04.960
He said, Okay, my turn.
00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:06.639
Yeah, okay.
00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:10.720
He said, I have an old English sheepdog named Porky.
00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:16.399
And Porky needs a root canal therapy, and I have a dentist who'll do it.
00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:19.120
But I need someone to anesthetize the dog.
00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:26.480
We set a date at my office, and I provided anesthesia, and Dr.
00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:29.120
Bob Olson provided the dentistry.
00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:31.120
He's a a human dentist.
00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:41.200
And while we're having dinner afterwards with our wives, waiting for Porky to wake up from his anesthesia.
00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:41.759
Dr.
00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:49.360
Olson offered for me to come to his office on my days off to observe and see some dentistry.
00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:51.759
And I did this for the next two years.
00:12:52.000 --> 00:13:07.039
After two years, he uh brought out a shine catalog and helped me order some equipment and instruments, and I became the owner of my own belt-driven electric piccolo armed dental drill.
00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:08.480
I was in business.
00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:15.919
Anyway, the next year I decided every dog and cat in my practice should have its teeth cleaned, which was unusual.
00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:24.320
Very and ultrasonic scalers were brand new to the field, not yet in my possession.
00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:27.440
So I cleaned the teeth manually with a hand instrument.
00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:30.720
The following year the teeth were worse.
00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:33.279
I felt terrible.
00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:45.679
So I at that point I went to uh the national AHA meeting in Salt Lake City in 1978, and I spoke with the grandfather of veterinary dentistry.
00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:59.679
His name was Don Ross from Houston, and he gave me some pointers to improve my technique, including the value of ultrasonic scaling and polishing, and my patients did much better the following year.
00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:06.639
In 1982, I met Peter Emily, also a human dentist.
00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:12.720
We met at a catered reception during the opening of the new Denver Zoo Hospital.
00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:15.279
Someone who knew us both introduced us.
00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:17.759
Peter and I became instant friends.
00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:27.279
And we traveled to Las Vegas the following February to the Western Veterinary Conference, and there were speakers from the American Veterinary Dental Society.
00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:36.399
There were five speakers Gary Beard, Ben Colmery, Tom Mulligan, Don Ross, and Chuck Williams.
00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:42.960
These names you continually hear that were in the foundation of organized veterinary dentistry.
00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:45.840
We had found a home, Peter and I.
00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:49.919
We exchanged ideas with these half dozen speakers.
00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:56.320
Pete was, as well as being a dentist, was an American Kennel Club dog show judge for working dogs.
00:14:56.559 --> 00:15:03.759
And he would see problems in the show ring and he'd send them to my office for the following Thursday.
00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:07.679
And he came to my office every Thursday for three years.
00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:13.120
If it wasn't for Peter Emily, we would not have a dental college today.
00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:18.559
He was he may not have been the grandfather of veterinary dentists, but he was the godfather.
00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:21.519
Being of Italian descent, he was very proud of it.
00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:26.639
So he helped me buy a used x-ray machine, dental x-ray machine.
00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:33.679
And I learned a tremendous amount of dentistry from he and Betty Glass, his expanded chairside assistant.
00:15:36.639 --> 00:16:09.360
In 1985, the AHA meeting in Orlando, a AVDS representatives, Chuck Williams again and Tom Mulligan, met with them AVMA American Board Veterinary Specialists, the ABVS, members Doctors Don Sawyer and Bill Jackson, and Bill Kay, well-known figures in early veterinary medicine in the United States, to discuss appropriate means for obtaining specialty recognition.
00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:21.120
Well those guys were told that it was inappropriate to advertise a specialty if the service would not be readily available on a national basis.
00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:39.360
The concept was they suggested we should form a group with qualifying standards, with credentials review, with an examination for membership, and use that as a preparatory step for the formation of an AVMA recognized specialty organization.
00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:42.320
So a lot of time and effort went into this.
00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:47.600
A committee was formed to pursue the forming of an academy.
00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:56.159
It had to be.
00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:08.400
With this information, a constitution and bylaws for the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry was drafted.
00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:15.119
In 1986, the Academy was created.
00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:31.920
Sounds like a scary concept.
00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:33.200
Oh, good job.
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:37.119
I passed it and became a charter fellow of the Academy.
00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:41.519
I was elected its president in 1988 and 89.
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:47.279
In 1987, the Academy was legally incorporated in Michigan.
00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:58.319
And the first credentials review and examination process were conducted in 1986 and 87 by three persons eminently qualified in veterinary dentistry.
00:17:59.200 --> 00:17:59.519
Dr.
00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:00.880
Keith Grove.
00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:03.119
He was a human dentist.
00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:07.759
He was a veterinarian graduate from University of Pennsylvania.
00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:11.279
He had a m master's degree in periodontology.
00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:14.319
He lived in Faroe Beach, Florida.
00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:18.319
Don Ross was the second person.
00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:19.359
He was from Houston.
00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:24.160
He had an MS degree in dentistry from the University of Texas Dental School.
00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:27.200
And he was a veterinarian.
00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:31.039
And then there was Peter Emily from Lakewood, Colorado.
00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:41.279
At the time, Peter had about 20 years of extensive experience in veterinary dentistry, working in collaboration with veterinarians in zoos and small animal practice.
00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:49.200
And he was the adjunct faculty uh member at the College of Veterinary Medicine at CSU.
00:18:49.839 --> 00:19:00.319
So these guys were subsequently required to take credentials and examination processes also before being accepted to full membership, or they remained as an honorary member, which Peter did.
00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:13.039
So we had the um Academy was being formed, um, and we called for interested persons to make application for membership.
00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:21.039
Forty-four veterinary insubmitted credentials, 35 were permitted entry to the exam, and 25 passed.
00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:27.599
The first examination were certified as Fellows of the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry, AVD.
00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:30.880
Gary Beard was elected the first president.
00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:31.680
Dr.
00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:42.960
Charles Williams, president-elect, Colin Harvey, Secretary Treasurer, and myself and Ben Colmery were on the board of directors as members at large.
00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:49.440
Subsequently, we had standing committees organized for the new credentials, review, and examination committees.
00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:52.400
In 1987, it was a big stepping stone.
00:19:52.480 --> 00:20:00.000
The Academy of Veterinary Dentistry sponsored a comprehensive continued educational forum in Cincinnati, Ohio.
00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:03.200
It was the first of the American veterinary dental forums.
00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:05.119
Cincinnati, Ohio.
00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:07.839
I did not know that, so that's a new one for me.
00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:11.839
I'd never looked back to see where the first BDF was held.
00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:22.319
We invited the heads of anatomy and surgery departments of all 23 veterinary schools complimentarily with invitations to attend our meeting.
00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:24.240
And it was a huge success.
00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:38.960
May 12th, the next year, 1988, because of the rapid and successful development of the economy, the ABVS, the American Board of Veterinary Specialties, realized they had no control.
00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:45.119
We were doing this independently, which is not enjoyed by politicians.
00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:55.599
So they recommended that we make application with the AVMA for the establishment of an officially recognized specialty college in veterinary dentistry.
00:20:55.839 --> 00:21:21.279
An organizing committee of eight accepted by the AVMA, ABVS, was made up, and the chairman was Charles Williams, Gary Beard again, Ben Colmery, Keith Grove, Colin Harvey, Sandra Manfra from the University of Illinois, and Tom Mulligan from San Diego, and Don Ross, with Peter Emily as an advisory member.
00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:32.079
This resulted in quite a bit of jealousy and resentment among many Academy fellows who weren't included in the organizing committee.
00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:36.799
Facetiously we referred to them as the gang of eight.
00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:44.480
Early AVD members, this was because A V D members had been members of the AVDS.
00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:51.519
Many had grown up together with those chosen eight, acquiring a similar initial dental education.
00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:59.440
Many perceived themselves as equally qualified, and some were but actually the chosen eight were either politically.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:09.440
Tightly connected with the AVMA hierarchy, or they were double boarded in the AVMA, or they were connected with human dentistry.
00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:11.680
So they were eminently qualified.
00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:18.720
And the AVMA would not entertain any requests that we made to expand the size of the organizing committee.
00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:20.559
It was limited to eight.
00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:32.640
In 1988, the American Veterinary Dental College became a reality with the AVMA organizing dentistry as a bona fide standalone specialty organization.
00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:46.799
To be a member required three more years of study, another more extensive credentials package, and more involved three-day written and practical examination.
00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:55.839
I passed that first examination and was accepted as an entry-level specialist and expert in the field.
00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:01.119
What was the study involving during those three years?
00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:07.519
Did you or others have mentors that you met regularly, or was it something just Pete was my mentor?
00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:08.480
Pete Emily.
00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:11.200
Mentor, friend, and colleague.
00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:14.720
And we lectured nationally and internationally for 40 years.
00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:14.960
Yeah.
00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:22.319
In 2021, we published the first hardback textbook in Zoo and Wildlife, Wild Animal Dentistry.
00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:29.920
And that's cementing his legacy of 50 years performing advanced level oral care on captive wild animals.
00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:37.200
We cited in that book 352 species with endodonic and surgical descriptions for many of them.
00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:42.079
So that's, you know, and the others they had their mentors.
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:42.960
Peter was mine.
00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:43.759
Yeah.
00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:54.400
So people did have someone, a human dentist, most likely, that they worked with because there weren't very many veterinary professionals that could mentor someone at that time, right?
00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:55.599
Absolutely.
00:23:56.319 --> 00:24:04.799
So in 1988, provisional approval for the AVDC was granted by the ABVS on July 17th.
00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:08.559
The ABVS set a goal for us, okay?
00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:18.160
We had to have a hundred diplomates to have sufficient perceived specialty dental coverage to provide adequate service to the nation.
00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:21.440
They estimated it would take us 10 years to do this.
00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:30.079
Steve Holmstrom, he was the fourth AVDC president from 1994 to 96.
00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:33.920
I was the fifth from 1996 to 98.
00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:34.559
Okay.
00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:51.680
So in 96, after giving presentations at the National AHA meeting in Boston, Steve and I flew to Schalmsburg, Illinois, and promised the ABVS we would have those hundred diplomates within a year.
00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:52.720
Okay.
00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:55.039
Campaign promises.
00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:56.480
Exactly.
00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:04.000
We didn't quite meet that goal, but our promise resulted in the same desirable successful outcome.
00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:11.200
1997, the VDC was awarded full recognition as an AVMA specialty organization.
00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:13.279
Well, I was the college president.
00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:17.680
Exactly after 10 years of the initial probation.
00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:23.920
We were awarded that honor in Reno at the annual AVMA meeting in July 1997.
00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:25.279
Excellent.
00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:26.000
Wow.
00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:31.359
What a journey to just get to that point to have your hundred members.
00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.960
And the work effort was tremendous.
00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:38.880
I mean, we're talking in the 80s.
00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:44.079
We didn't, you know, we had computers, but we didn't have an internet till the 90s.
00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:52.319
It was all done by hand, typed, copied, uh, with white out marks and a whole bit.
00:25:52.640 --> 00:26:00.240
My credentials package was two binders four inches thick when I submitted my credentials.
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:02.319
Very labor intensive.
00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:08.559
Today we have a a DMS or a document management system much more streamlined.
00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:09.359
Yes.
00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:19.119
I don't think people realize what a heavy lift that is and how dedicated you have to be to make that work when you don't have the technology and tools that we have today.
00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:22.000
Well, and I didn't know how I was going to do it.
00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:27.119
I had a new child and which took a lot of family time.
00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:36.559
I would get up at three in the morning and study for two hours every day before family woke up and we'd start the day.
00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:38.880
I did this I did this for three years.
00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:42.079
Yeah, and you were running your own practice as well, right?
00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:43.759
Trying to keep your practice successfully.
00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:51.519
So what did dentistry look like at your practice between 1988, 87, and 97?
00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:55.839
I had a a general AHA practice of medicine and surgery.
00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:58.319
Were you growing the number of patients?
00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:06.720
Because you mentioned that your goal was to have every dog and cat in your practice get anesthetized to have their teeth cleaned.
00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:11.359
Is that something that you were seeing improvements with the general public at that time?
00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:17.680
Because we have to educate the pet parents, so to speak, to get them to say yes to what we're offering.
00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:20.799
How did you find that to be between that time period?
00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:24.720
Well, my uh staff said I had a silver tongue.
00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:25.440
Okay.
00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:33.599
As I tell people getting into practice, you have to know your your craft.
00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:46.240
And once you feel secure that you're providing the service that you're advertising, your clients will hear it in the tone of your voice.
00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:49.759
If you're not so sure, they don't sign up.
00:27:50.400 --> 00:28:05.440
So to get back to where we were, we were AVDC was awarded full recognition as an AVMA specialty organization in 1997 in July.
00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:20.720
And there was obviously potential at this point for public misunderstanding of the difference in the qualifications to be an a fellow of the academy or a diplomate of the college.
00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:25.279
Anyway, there was considerable overlap between the two.
00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:33.200
It just was increased credentials and a longer examination, etc., uh, to become a diplomate.
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:39.279
Many uh of us in the college were still members of the academy, and I still am today.
00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:42.960
And the academy no longer exists today.
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:51.359
It doesn't have a credentials package, it doesn't have an examination, it's basically a committee in the college.
00:28:51.599 --> 00:29:11.440
The academy always, once the college was established, was kind of used as feeder stock, if you will, a stepping stone to the academy, because you do your credentials for the academy and the examination, and then you just add to them a bit and then make application to the college.
00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:16.559
But the academy was never recognized by the AVMA.
00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:22.799
Only the American Veterinary Dent Dental College is an AVMA organization.
00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:30.400
In 2023, the Foundation for Veterinary Dentistry was formed.
00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:33.519
And this is was to solve the problem.
00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:41.519
It brought the Dental Society, the Academy, and the College all under the same umbrella in the foundation.
00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:47.119
The AVDS, the society, ceased to exist.
00:29:47.519 --> 00:30:00.880
The members st still paid dues and received a journal of veterinary dentistry, but they were now foundation members without being encumbered with a credentialing process or an examination.
00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:16.960
The foundation co-sponsored the American Veterinary Dental Forum, and the Journal of Veterinary Dentistry became the official journal of the organization and eleven other national and international veterinary dental organizations.
00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:23.440
I think you said 2023, but did you mean 2003?
00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:25.440
Or was it 23.
00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:26.400
23, okay.
00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:32.880
Just recently, just recently we had a foundation that brought it all under an umbrella.
00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:35.759
Okay politics grinds slowly.
00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:36.480
Mm-hmm.
00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:37.759
Okay, okay.
00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:40.640
For some reason I thought that was farther ago.
00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:51.039
So with this foundation, the the college kept its individual identity as the recognized specialty organization of the AVMA.
00:30:51.599 --> 00:31:17.839
In 2025, just last year, we finally got veterinary dental specialist and board certified veterinary dentist to be registered trademarks because we you continually have problems of people exaggerating their status, calling themselves specialists when they have nowhere near specialist abilities.
00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:18.559
Correct.
00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:21.359
So th this helps protect that.
00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:24.720
Yeah, that was a great accomplishment to get that.
00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:25.279
Yeah.
00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:28.319
So that's where we are as veterinarians.
00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:31.920
Then we come to the veterinary technician evolution.
00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:33.599
Exactly.
00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:41.599
The expansion of veterinary technician dental education and expertise was another aspect of this dental evolution.
00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:48.640
Technician programs accredited by the AVMA were developed in the nineteen seventies.
00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:55.039
But similar to veterinary schools, dentistry as a separate discipline was not taught.
00:31:56.319 --> 00:32:15.759
In the nineteen nineties, the Henry Schein Dental Distributor Company, spearheaded by their sales manager, Jerry Selen, created the American Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians, ASVDT.
00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:21.200
It was an uncomplicated, unaccredited beginning.
00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:23.279
Mr.
00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:38.640
Selen wrote an educational compendium, created a take-home examination, collected a fee, and a veterination could receive the educational materials and a take-home book examination.
00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:47.680
Once the tuition fee was collected, they received a certificate of completion and a membership to the ASVDT.
00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:50.079
I was one of those people that did that.
00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:50.799
Yeah.
00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:52.240
Well, it was the beginning.
00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:54.640
It was what we had available to us, yeah.
00:32:55.440 --> 00:33:02.799
There was no oversight, and the quality of the ASVDT members understandably varied tremendously.
00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:08.640
And it tainted the perceived overall quality of veterinary dental community.
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:17.680
In 1998, Bob Wiggs succeeded me, Ed Eisner, as president of the AVDC.
00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:36.319
In 1999, two years after the AVDC was recognized as a full VSO or veterinary specialty organization, Bob created an ad hoc veterinary technician certification committee with myself as the chair.
00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:41.920
And Steve Holmstrom and Jan Bellows were members of our committee.
00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:50.720
And we were tasked with investigating the feasibility of the certification of veterinary dental technicians.
00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:54.319
I contacted Mr.
00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:56.160
Patrick Navarre.
00:33:57.119 --> 00:34:02.799
He was the executive director of the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America.
00:34:07.200 --> 00:34:16.480
He indicated that the AVDC would be welcome to apply to NAVTA to be the sponsoring organization of the veterinary dental technicians.
00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:34.079
He indicated that Navta Committee on Veterinary Dental Specialties would be reviewing the application and that only certified veterinary technicians would be acceptable in order to receive AVMA recognition as a veterinary specialty organization.
00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:46.320
His recommendation was to duplicate the AVMA requirements for VSO with very minor modifications to the AVDC package.
00:34:49.760 --> 00:34:53.519
Two colleges had done this in the technicians.
00:34:54.159 --> 00:35:01.679
They were the Academy of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Technicians and the Academy of Veterinary Technician Anesthetists.
00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:16.079
I enlisted the my colleague, Steve Holmstrom, who, as I, had previously chaired the AVDC Credentials and Examination Committees, and also was a past AVDC president.
00:35:16.480 --> 00:35:30.400
And together we modeled a credentials package and dental technician examination in the same image as the AVDC, but with reduced technician requirements in time commitment and level of expertise.
00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:39.440
These two programs were approved by the AVDC in 2000 and the AVDT was off and running.
00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:52.559
Steve and I assisted in administering their examinations for the first few years, just to make sure quality control.
00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:53.599
Yes.
00:35:54.239 --> 00:36:11.840
I enlisted my certified veterinary technician, Sarah Sharp, to join me in creating an inaugural group of highly motivated technicians to form the veterinary technician group with verifiable, highly qualified dental expertise.
00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:30.719
Yes, and Sarah Sharp was one of my original mentors, and I'm so grateful to her and all of her contribution to this, especially in the beginning there, where you saw the need for technicians to have a higher level of expertise and understanding, not just the veterinarians, right?
00:36:30.800 --> 00:36:46.639
So that's super important that you were a part of that when and had that vision because we wouldn't have what we have today as technicians without the support of the whole entire veterinary team, including veterinarians like you.
00:36:47.280 --> 00:36:48.480
Absolutely.
00:36:49.119 --> 00:37:07.840
So Sarah and I placed open invitations in the Journal of American Veterinary Association and in the Journal of Veterinary Dentistry for people interested in assisting the in the development of the newly forming Academy of Veterinary Dental Technicians, the AVDT.
00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:15.679
We invited them to attend a February meeting at the Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas in 2001.
00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:32.159
I and Sarah arranged for the first meeting in 2001 at the Western Veterinary Conference, and those who showed up were grandfathered in as the organizing committee for the future VDT specialists.
00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:42.800
All of the attending twelve technicians were either certified, registered, or licensed veterinary technicians in their respective home state.
00:37:43.599 --> 00:37:49.679
All had extensive experience either working for or with an AVDC diplomate.
00:37:51.599 --> 00:37:55.519
It was attended by myself and those twelve technicians.
00:37:55.920 --> 00:38:21.119
They were Sarah Sharp, Jeannie Vitto, Vicky Baird, Wendy Bauer, Pam Noel, Susan Berrihill, Thomas Koenig, Judy Ozier, Kathy Sylvester, Mary Berg, Jerry Ann Holstrom, and Sue Elder.
00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:22.320
And Sue Elder.
00:38:22.400 --> 00:38:24.079
She was one of my mentors as well.
00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:26.639
Tommy was my official mentor.
00:38:26.880 --> 00:38:40.079
I did not know them in 2001, and I did not attend that meeting because I didn't know that was happening, but I I met them in 2002 at the Veterinary Dental Forum in Savannah, Georgia.
00:38:40.239 --> 00:38:40.960
Is that correct?
00:38:41.119 --> 00:38:43.360
Was Savannah in 2002?
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:44.400
Yes.
00:38:44.639 --> 00:38:44.880
Yeah.
00:38:45.039 --> 00:38:46.480
So that's where I met them.
00:38:46.719 --> 00:38:52.960
So that was how I got them on my radar, and I was like, wow, this is really cool what they're trying to do here.
00:38:53.360 --> 00:39:05.119
So at that first meeting, those 12 elected Jeannie Viteau as president, Vicky Bayard was the president-elect, and Sarah Sharp was the secretary.
00:39:07.440 --> 00:39:15.840
By 2005, the AVDT was self-governing, and my role was as their advisor from the AVDC.
00:39:16.400 --> 00:39:30.320
It took them five years, and in 2006, they were accredited with NAVTA as the third veterinary technician specialty organization designated a VTS dentistry.
00:39:30.639 --> 00:39:32.000
Yes, that's amazing.
00:39:32.159 --> 00:39:37.360
We're celebrating our 20-year anniversary this year of that accomplishment.
00:39:38.400 --> 00:39:46.079
So generally speaking, providing specialized dental services has been a response to consumer demand.
00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:51.440
You know, w without consumer wanting it, it none of this would ever occur.
00:39:52.000 --> 00:40:06.800
Just like the whole uh beginning of the technicians society was because people were tired of having a one or two percent death rate in space.
00:40:08.159 --> 00:40:11.039
You know, so technician schools started to spring up.
00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:13.760
And that that's how it all got started.
00:40:14.159 --> 00:40:14.400
Yeah.
00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:30.719
Anyway, uh it's particularly true in preventive aspects of dentistry, has become increasingly important as the understanding of the tr interactions between oral diseases and systemic health has increased.
00:40:31.119 --> 00:40:39.039
There are now university veterinary dental residency programs in numerous universities in North America.
00:40:39.360 --> 00:40:50.400
Veterinary dentistry is well established as an important discipline when providing comprehensive health care for animals while optimizing their overall well-being.
00:40:51.039 --> 00:41:14.880
As of a few days ago, February 25th, 2026, the expanding veterinary dental profession has 293 active AVDC diplomates, six equine residency programs, and 77 small animal residency programs approved by the AVDC.
00:41:16.079 --> 00:41:25.360
And there are 125 VTS dentistry technician specialists with more making applications as I write.
00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:29.840
So this is going to be an exciting 20th anniversary for you.
00:41:30.320 --> 00:41:32.880
Yes, yes, we hope to have a good group there.
00:41:33.039 --> 00:41:39.280
We're going to celebrate at the Veterinary Dental Forum in Orlando, Florida, in October.
00:41:39.599 --> 00:41:58.400
And this is a huge part of it, just really even knowing the history and the foresight that these people had to put this all together and then to be able to be a part of maintaining that and making it better and strong as we work towards the next 50 years.
00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:07.760
So there are just to wrap it up, there were 10 key dates in the 50-year evolution of veterinary dentistry.
00:42:08.079 --> 00:42:13.119
In 1976, the society was formed, the AVDS.
00:42:13.599 --> 00:42:18.559
In 1986, the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry was formed.
00:42:18.800 --> 00:42:24.000
In 1987 was the first veterinary dental forum in Cincinnati.
00:42:24.960 --> 00:42:31.679
In 1988, the AVDC received provisional recognition as a VSO.
00:42:32.880 --> 00:42:39.360
Ten years later, in 1997, the AVDC received full recognition as a VSO.
00:42:40.079 --> 00:42:51.440
In 2023, the Foundation for Veterinary Dentistry was formed, board certified veterinary dentists and veterinary dental specialists becoming registered trademarks.
00:42:52.800 --> 00:43:01.280
For the technicians, 1990s, the ASVDT was the very beginning with Jerry Shellen and Henry Schein.
00:43:01.519 --> 00:43:07.679
In 1999, the ad hoc committee of the dental college was formed.
00:43:07.920 --> 00:43:14.559
And in 2001, the first meeting of the AVDT occurred at the Western Veterinary Conference.
00:43:14.800 --> 00:43:25.280
And in 2006, the VTS accredited the with NAVTA as the third veterinary technician specialist dentistry.
00:43:25.519 --> 00:43:27.440
So that's our history.
00:43:28.719 --> 00:43:34.400
I feel really fortunate just to have been in that time period.
00:43:34.639 --> 00:43:35.280
You know?
00:43:41.519 --> 00:43:42.960
The time, the time.
00:43:44.159 --> 00:43:48.639
And if you're there and you're paying attention, you can be one.
00:43:48.960 --> 00:43:58.239
Thank you so much for listening in today to the Positive Veterinary Dentistry podcast and part one of a two part series with Doctor Edward Eisner.
00:43:58.559 --> 00:43:59.760
It's been really fun listening.
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:06.000
To his recounting of the history and the humble beginnings of veterinary dentistry.
00:44:06.159 --> 00:44:10.800
So please stay tuned for part two so that you can learn a little bit more about Dr.
00:44:10.880 --> 00:44:18.079
Edward Eisner, his passion projects, what he's up to today, and his take on the future of veterinary dentistry.
00:44:18.239 --> 00:44:21.199
We really look forward to it, so I hope we will see you there.
00:44:21.280 --> 00:44:25.679
And I know a lot of veterinary professionals out there don't know this podcast exists.
00:44:25.760 --> 00:44:33.039
So we would love it if you would share, like, subscribe, and listen wherever you listen to podcasts, watch the video on my YouTube channel.
00:44:33.199 --> 00:44:39.840
For now, keep doing positive veterinary dentistry, and we'll see you in part two of this two-part series.
