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Hale Veterinary Clinic

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Guelph, ON
Hale Veterinary Clinic

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Dr. Martin F. A. Hamilton, BVM&S, Dip.AVDC, Dip.EVDC, MRCVS
Board Certified Veterinary Dentist™
Dental and oral surgery for dogs🐶 and cats🐱 by referral

10/09/2026

❤️ We always love hearing how our patients are doing after their surgeries. This week, we received a lovely email from Sunny and Taika’s family telling us how great they are both doing!

🐱 Sunny and Taika are littermates and are 3 years old. They both had feline early-onset gingivitis, which had rapidly progressed into severe periodontal disease affecting most of their teeth. Dr. Hamilton performed whole-mouth extractions for both to relieve their oral pain and infection. Like many pet owners, they were worried about how Sunny and Taika would do without teeth, but now, seeing them much happier and more affectionate than before their surgeries, their owners’ only regret is not noticing their dental pain and getting them help sooner!

🥰 Cats and dogs are so good at hiding their pain; a lot of times we only get to see their true happy selves once their pain is treated. Many pets live long and happy lives without painful teeth. We hope Sunny and Taika’s story can help ease some pet owners' concerns about dental extractions.

09/25/2026

The new WSAVA dental guidelines are out!

09/01/2026

🤔 Have you noticed this big ‘bubble’ near the apex of a dog’s maxillary canine tooth? Do you know what it is? Is it normal? Is it a sign of disease?

🦷 Although sometimes mistaken as pathology, this is actually normal anatomy! This ‘bubble’ is formed by the radiopaque lines of the maxillary conchal crest and the junction of the vertical body of the maxilla and its palatine process.

😊 A good way to confirm is to check if things look similar on the other side. If the radiograph on the other side is the same and there is no coronal damage or discolouration of this tooth, it is more likely to indicate normal anatomy instead of pathological changes.

👉 Check out the 3rd image for a true periapical pathology from a complicated crown fracture of a canine tooth.

08/20/2026

🤔Do you believe periodontal disease is just an issue for senior pets? At what age do you recommend the first COHAT (Comprehensive Oral Health Assessment and Treatment) for your patient? 3-year-old? 5-year-old? That may be too late for many small breed dogs!

🐶 This is Phoebe, a 2.5-year-old Yorkie. Her family adopted her not long ago. Having experience with their previous Yorkie’s dental issue, they soon noticed Phoebe’s teeth were not looking great, so she was referred to us. On intra-oral radiographs and periodontal probing, all of Phoebe’s teeth showed marked gingival recession, significant bone loss, furcation exposure, and tooth mobility, indicating advanced periodontal disease. To alleviate Phoebe's dental pain and infection, Dr. Hamilton extracted all her teeth.

😟 Why did she have such profound periodontal disease at such a young age? Unfortunately, there is a strong genetic predisposition for severe, early-onset periodontal disease in Yorkies. Phoebe is definitely not an exception. In a UK study, 98% of Yorkies had evidence of periodontal disease at 9 months of age! Not just Yorkies; other small-breed dogs (Chihuahuas, Maltese, Pomeranians, Toy Poodles, etc.) are also much more predisposed to periodontal disease than larger dogs.

🦷 What can we do to prevent them from losing all their teeth at a young age? For small dogs like Phoebe, veterinarians should have a thorough discussion with the family about dental health as soon as adult teeth erupt. Any persistent deciduous teeth and crowding issues should be addressed as soon as possible to optimize the periodontal health of remaining teeth. Diligent dental home care, including daily brushing and the use of VOHC-accepted products, should be implemented at 6 months of age. Based on each individual’s genetics and their family’s ability to perform dental home care, professional COHATs are also required much earlier and more frequently than in larger dogs. Sometimes, even with the best efforts, extractions may still be inevitable.

08/13/2026

🥳 We are excited to welcome Dr. Andrew Murray to our team at Hale Veterinary Clinic!

Dr. Murray graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2018 before returning to Toronto to begin his career in small animal general practice. Over the next four years, he developed strong relationships with clients and colleagues while building a keen interest in veterinary dentistry and oral surgery.

In 2023, Dr. Murray began an internship under the mentorship of Dr. Lorraine Hiscox, which evolved into a residency in veterinary dentistry and oral surgery. He is currently preparing for his board certification examinations and is excited to be joining us part-time at Hale Veterinary Clinic.

Dr. Murray has a particular interest in orthodontics and endodontics and most enjoys helping improve the comfort and quality of life of his patients by providing dental care.

Outside of the clinic, Dr. Murray enjoys spending time with his wife and identical twin boys, Alex and Liam, running with their whippet, Penny, playing ultimate frisbee with friends, and experimenting with new sourdough recipes.

Dr. Murray is a proud RECOVER Certified BLS and ALS Rescuer®.

😊 Please join us in welcoming Dr. Murray!

08/03/2026

Some people believe wild animals have perfect teeth because they chew on bones and eat raw, but in fact, they DON'T have perfect teeth! They get all kinds of dental issues just like dogs and cats. Their dental disease just generally doesn't get noticed or treated 😢.

$🤔 If you have referred patients to a veterinary dental specialist for treatment of fractured teeth, you probably know th...$

07/23/2026

🤔 If you have referred patients to a veterinary dental specialist for treatment of fractured teeth, you probably know that fractures extending subgingivally are less likely to be good candidates for root canal procedures. Do you know why? Is there any chance we can ‘make it work’?

🐕 This is Einstein, a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois. Like most Malinois, Einstein is a very athletic dog who actively competes in bite sports. Unfortunately, he fractured his right upper canine tooth during training; the pulp was exposed, and the fracture extended 7mm beneath the gumline. Once the fractured slab was removed, the gum and the fractured surface formed a pocket. This pocket can trap food and debris, predisposing this tooth to periodontal disease, regardless of root canal treatment; in most cases, extraction is the preferred treatment for this degree of traumatic injury.

🦷 However, as an active working dog, Einstein’s canines are important for his job. As you can imagine, having him wear a cone and rest for 2 weeks post-extraction can also be very challenging; therefore, his family prefer to preserve this tooth if it’s at all possible. After root canal therapy, a type II crown lengthening procedure was performed to address the periodontal pocket. An envelope mucoperiosteal flap was elevated to expose the alveolar bone, which was removed until the alveolar margin was 3mm beneath where the fracture ended (exposing more of the crown). The neighbouring tooth 105 had to be removed to facilitate a gentle slope of the alveolar bone. The flap was then closed, and three “tacking sutures” were placed to ensure the flap remained apical to its original position.

😃 One month later, we received photos of Einstein’s surgical site; things are healing well! We will see him again in 12 months for a radiographic recheck of this tooth to ensure the treatment has been successful.

06/30/2026

🦷 If you have read some of our previous posts, you may already know that most discoloured teeth are nonvital. Do you know that not all nonvital teeth are discoloured?
🐶 This is Charlie, a 3.5-year-old Pomeranian. With the good intention of maintaining Charlie’s dental health, her family provided her with deer antlers to chew on, which unfortunately fractured her right maxillary 4th premolar (108). As always, we took whole-mouth radiographs, assessed all her teeth, and found out the extent of the damage was much more than one tooth.
😱 Although there was no obvious discolouration upon visual assessment, radiographically, 8 of her teeth had larger pulp chambers, indicating they were nonvital (dead). Some showed periapical lucency, indicating infection around the root tips. How do we know teeth with larger pulp chambers are nonvital? When teeth are newly erupted, they have large pulp chambers and thin dentin walls. As the pet ages, more dentin is produced, making the walls thicker and chambers smaller. When blunt force injury occurs (such as chewing on hard objects), a tooth may die, stop producing dentin, and the pulp chambers remain the same size. As other teeth continue to mature, the nonvital teeth show larger chamber size than others. The difference in chamber size can be difficult to appreciate when the injury occurred recently or when the pet is older.
😟 Unlike humans, pets cannot tell us whether a nonvital tooth is painful. The dead pulp inside can become necrotic and cause infection around the root tips (as in Charlie’s case); therefore, nonvital teeth should be treated with either extractions or root canal therapy. Due to the large number of teeth affected, all 8 of Charlie’s nonvital teeth, as well as the 108 with a complicated crown-root fracture (fracture extended beneath the gumline), were extracted. Charlie’s family was also informed about the ‘kneecap’ rule. They will get rid of all the hard chew toys and replace them with safer items for her.

06/04/2026

🩺Guided tissue regeneration (GTR) is an advanced surgical procedure which aims to regenerate bone and other tissues that have been lost due to periodontal disease. When successful, it can help preserve and avoid the extraction of large and functionally important teeth, such as canines and lower 1st molars. However, this procedure can only be performed for teeth with selected patterns of bone loss. Various factors, such as the client’s ability to perform daily dental home care and whether the patient can be safely anesthetized for routine professional assessment, need to be taken into consideration.

🐶This is Miya, a Pomeranian Bichon mix. Being a small-breed dog predisposes her to periodontal disease. When she first presented to us last year at 3 years old, many of her teeth already had advanced periodontal disease. The ones that could not be salvaged were extracted. Her left mandibular first premolar (309) had advanced bone loss affecting the distal root (5mm probing depth). In most situations, teeth with this amount of bone loss (>50%, stage 4 periodontal disease) require extraction. Fortunately for this tooth, the distal bone loss resulted in a vertical defect that was amenable to GTR. A flap was carefully raised, and the distal root was thoroughly root-planned, with removal of all granulation tissue within the vertical pocket. The pocket was filled with an osteoallograft, a bone membrane was placed over the defect, and the flap was sutured closed over the membrane.

😃After 14 days of healing, Miya’s family started brushing Miya’s teeth and using VOHC-accepted dental home care products daily to maintain the periodontal health of all her remaining teeth, including 309, where GTR was performed. Miya returned to us 12 months later for reevaluation and professional cleaning. The GTR had successfully reduced the distal pocket depth of 309 from 5mm to 3mm! The periodontal health of all her other teeth was also pretty good!

👉In the right situation and patient, GTR is a great therapeutic option to preserve teeth with advanced periodontal disease. For clients who prefer this type of treatment instead of extractions, a referral can be made to your local veterinary dental specialists.

Address

159 Fife Road
Guelph, ON
N1H7N8

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 5pm
Tuesday	8am - 5pm
Wednesday	8am - 5pm
Thursday	8am - 5pm
Friday	8am - 5pm

Telephone

+15198228598

Website

https://www.haleveterinaryclinic.ca/

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