By Jonathan D. Jones

Archives Reprint

   The (Staunton) News Leader

    STAUNTON - The patient was asleep with his mouth wide open while Thomas Chamberlain plugged away with his dental tools.

    He had to dig out infected pulp, clean the tooth, fill and cap it. Just a routine root canal, except that his patient happened to be a 3-year-old Doberman pinscher named Panzer.

    "This is a dog that has three teeth that are dead," Chamberlain said. "And three teeth that are getting root canals."

    Chamberlain, of Gainesville, is one of 78 veterinarians in the world - and four in Virginia - certified to do dental surgeries by the American Veterinary Dental College. He comes to Staunton once a month to work on local animals at the new Augusta/Valley Animal Hospital.

    Panzer was one of his patients this week. Joanne Wertz brought the show dog from her Bath County home to get the surgery done because she noticed two of his teeth were turning black. Rather than let the teeth begin to rot, she wanted to get it taken care of before it gets worse.

    "I don't want to have to put him under for a bone infection," Wertz said. "I feel personally for the health of the pet that it's a medical issue" to get the root canal surgery.

    Also, because Panzer is a show dog, keeping his teeth healthy will help his ability to compete, Wertz said.

    Chamberlain said he mostly works on small animals - dogs and cats - although occasionally he works on exotic pets. He's done work for the Virginia Zoological Park on tigers, baboons and even a lion.

    Many of his patients are like Panzer, he said, show dogs who need healthy teeth to be competitive.

    But the surgeries are not cosmetic, said Donald Henry, a partner at the Augusta/Valley Animal Hospital. Taking care of an animal's teeth helps keep the pet healthy.

    "If it's a deal where it begins to abscess, that's very painful," Henry said.

    It also can lead to a bacterial infection in the animal's mouth, Chamberlain said.

    Specialization is becoming more common in veterinary medicine, Henry said. The hospital also has a veterinary ophthalmologist who visits on a regular basis and can perform eye surgery on animals.

    Getting dental surgery done on a dog isn't cheap. But when needed, it helps the dog's health, Henry said.

    An examination and consultation with Chamberlain costs $65. A root canal surgery can cost $200 to $375, depending on the tooth, Henry said. An extraction can cost about $75 to $300.

    With the added cost of anesthesia, the bill can add up quickly. A root canal procedure takes between an hour and an hour and a half, depending on the tooth, Chamberlain said.

    Chamberlain has been coming to the Staunton area only for the last five months, Henry said. Having a veterinary dentist nearby, even on a once-monthly basis, made it considerably easier to get Panzer's teeth taken care of, Wertz said.

    "The last time, when he hit his molar on a fence post, I got in my car and drove 100 mph - and got a ticket for driving 100 mph in Bath County - on the way to Fairfax to get it capped," Wertz said.

   I think this moved May 7, 2004.

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