New Zealand Veterinary Dentistry Ltd.

04/09/2026

We had two special patients this week, our little VIFs (Very Important Felines), Vickie and Felix who came in for a full comprehensive oral health assessment and treatment, including a scale and polish. These two little guys are owned by the ever enthusiastic and lovely surgery vet Dr. Daniel of Vet On Point who works alongside us at The Referral Centre Veterinary Hospital 😻😻 they also had two little dermal lumps excised at the same time, and looked too cute in their matching CoolCollars ❤️

The team loved looking after these beautiful boys - as you can see Vickie (grey cat) spent much of the time making biscuits whilst enjoying his opioid premed 🤣 It is always an honour to be entrusted with the care for our colleagues’ beloved pets - have the best recovery little ones 🥰♥️

01/09/2026

Dr. Crystal recently had the opportunity to participate in one of the VetChat podcasts hosted by the lovely Dr. Ellen Eyre, whose calm, knowledgeable and kind demeanour made this such a wonderful experience - we would love for you to have a listen 🙂 thank you Virbac for supporting this podcast!

Follow the link here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/sinking-our-teeth-into-small-animal-dentistry-with-dr/id1565023302?i=1000787057961

Here is the summary of this podcast:
"In this episode of The VetChat NZ, host Ellen Eyre sits down with registered veterinary dental specialist Dr. Crystal Loh to talk all things small animal dentistry. From her origins as a dairy cattle vet to becoming a board-certified specialist, Crystal shares her journey and offers practical wisdom for every member of the veterinary team.

The episode explores how clinics can shift from reactive "Grade 4" rescue missions toward proactive, preventative oral care. Crystal tackles common general practice challenges, discusses how we can maximise vet-nurse collaboration, and chats about realistic home care plans for pet owners. Whether you’re a vet, nurse, or practice manager, there is something for everyone in this episode!

To get in touch with Crystal and her team, visit https://www.nzvetdentistry.com"

27/08/2026

Beyond proud of our lead nurse Natalie for being one of the finalists for the Vet Nurse of the Year award - this incredible, hard working, dedicated and talented lady is only just spreading her wings!! She deserves every part of this recognition - congratulations Natalie, we love you 😍♥️♥️

✨ And then there were three! ✨

After receiving more than 40 incredible nominations from veterinary nurses across New Zealand, our judging panel had the difficult task of selecting this year’s Vet Nurse of the Year finalists.

A huge congratulations to our three finalists, and to every veterinary nurse who was nominated. Being recognised by your peers is a wonderful achievement and a reflection of the dedication, compassion, and professionalism you bring to our profession every day.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit a nomination and share the stories of the outstanding veterinary nurses making a difference in clinics and communities across the country.

The winner of the 2026 Vet Nurse of the Year Award will be announced on Friday 9 October, at the conclusion of Vet Nurse Appreciation Week. 🏆

Join us in congratulating our finalists in the comments below! 👏🐾

20/08/2026

An amazing group that we are proud to support ♥️ 🦅

Give a warm welcome to the newest members of the Wingspan whānau 🙌

New Zealand Veterinary Dentistry Ltd. is a specialty veterinary referral service providing advanced dentistry and oromaxillofacial surgery services and compassionate care to companion animals. And they've just joined us as a Community Sponsor!

As a charitable trust, Wingspan is incredibly grateful for their contribution and for backing us and the birds. It's great to have more animal lovers on board ❤

Further information regarding the services New Zealand Veterinary Dentistry offers can be found on their website 👉 www.nzvetdentistry.com

18/08/2026

Sweet little Lexi came to see us after an unfortunate incident involving a dog where she got bitten across her face. Her mum rushed her in to see the wonderful Dr. Julia at MVS Small Animals in Matamata who stabilised her and then sent her to us for assessment and repair.

Lexi suffered a fractured hard palate with an open laceration from the dog bite, with multiple fragments of bone in her nasal cavity and damage to the left orbital bone with evidence of haemorrhage and air leakage into the tissue surrounding the eye.

She was jointly seen by Dr. Crystal and her skilled ophthalmology colleague Dr. Kellam of Pet Eye Care - New Zealand who assessed her left eye to ensure there was no immediate damage to the globe itself.

Dr Crystal removed fragments of bone from her left nasal cavity as well as broken baby teeth, stabilised the palatal fracture and closed the wound.

We saw Lexi back earlier this week and were absolutely thrilled to see that this tough sweetheart had made a full recovery. Her mouth has healed beautifully with normal eruption of her permanent teeth, and the skull fractures have also healed!!

She is flourishing and growing into a beautiful young cat under the awesome care of her devoted Mumma who did all the hard yards in keeping her quiet as possible and managing any discomfort over her healing period.

Thank you to referring vet Dr. Julia for the superb follow up and care, this collaborative approach has resulted in a great outcome for this little girl.

Lexi - we wish you all the best, and can’t wait to see you grow up fully 🥹🥰😻

15/08/2026

Sweet little Bruno came to us after his astute vets at Cambridge Vets noticed many crowded, persistent baby teeth and multiple fully impacted premolar teeth near the canal in his lower jaw where the mandibular neurovascular bundle runs. Extracting all these teensy teeth was a delicate job in this little fellow and the team ensured everything was tip top in terms of anaesthesia and analgesia planning for Bruno, meaning he was well supported before, throughout and after his long procedure 🥹♥️

Some of these tiny teeth were so small that Dr. Crystal resorted to using 25 gauge needles to carefully cut the ligaments holding them in place, in order to remove them and preserve as much bone as possible, without causing damage to his jaw!! 😅

The NZ Vet Dentistry and the Waikato After Hours Vet Hospital nursing team showered him with care overnight - and as you can see he had everyone wrapped around his little toes!

Bruno, we can’t wait to see you and your gorgeous, sweet family at your post operative check - sending lots of healing thoughts to you over the next couple of weeks 🥰😍

14/08/2026

Young Ollie is a beautiful, delicious lad who came to us for a staged root canal last year. He was a bit of a challenge as the root end of his tooth was open as it had fractured at a young age - but Dr. Crystal was able to perform a procedure called apexification to close the root end using an intermediate filling material, which allowed us to complete the final root canal treatment 🦷 🙌

He came back in for a post operative radiograph, now a year later and we were so pleased to see that the root canal procedure was successful!

At home he takes his job as master pest controller very seriously and we were stoked to see that the composite filling has held up on all his many vermin catching adventures on the farm😅😅🐀🐀 not only that but his hard work is keeping his periodontal health very well managed indeed!

This boy loves luxurious pats under the influence of opioids and many cuddles as you can see in these photos before and after his procedure 🤣♥️🥰😻

Ollie we wish you all the best in your adventures and your wonderful family too who we were so lucky to meet during all of this ❤️

Shout out to fantastic The Referral Centre Veterinary Hospital nurse Zoe who stood in for us whilst we are short staffed to ensure that Ollie got the best care possible whilst he was with us 😍

11/08/2026

Dr. Crystal and her lovely fellow boarded dentist Dr. Angus Fechney are teaming up again with the wonderful Practical CPD crew to deliver another intensive 2 day dentistry workshop - this time on Canine Dentistry, on October 1st and 2nd! If you are a veterinarian wanting to further upskill with your theoretical and hands on knowledge, we can guarantee this course will give you tools you can use straight away in practice :)

We would love to see you there! Please see a video from Dr. Crystal and Angus giving a brief outline of the course content:

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06/08/2026

Meet the absolutely delicious Razor! He came in to see us two weeks ago after his lovely vet Dr. Jess at Pet Doctors Dinsdale found some very sore molars. With his tiny size and the placement of the diseased teeth, these were tricky extractions that needed to be performed carefully, so he found himself being cared for by the NZ Vet Dentistry team (and our lovely Dr. Joana!).

The whole clinic (The Referral Centre staff as well!) all fell in love with this little guy and he spent most of the day being cuddled by someone!

Here he is, having recovered beautifully and lapping up the attention and looking uber cute at his follow up with Dr. Crystal today 😍 his mum graciously let us try out his fancy little carry sling which is ever so cosy for being toted around.

Razor, we hope you have the best little life and keep us up to date with how you go! ♥️🐶

02/08/2026

Introducing our wonderful nurse Gemma 🤩❤️🥰

Gemma joined us around a month ago and is a talented veterinary nurse who hails from Rotorua originally. She has over 18 years of experience in both general practice and specialty referral settings across New Zealand and the UK. She graduated from Massey University in 2002 with a Diploma in Veterinary Nursing and brings a calm, knowledgeable and caring presence to the team.
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Gemma became a veterinary nurse as she had a deep love of animals from a young age. She very much enjoys the combination of patient care, hands-on nursing, and supporting clients through their pets’ treatment journeys.

She loves the advanced and specialised side of veterinary nursing and is looking forward to continuing to develop her skills in dentistry and anaesthesia within a referral environment.
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Gemma is multi-talented with a keen eye for art and photography, enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking and discovering new food, being outdoors, and has been involved with hatching and raising Kiwi chicks in her many feathered career!!
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She has two Burmese cats, one named Rupert who is a cheeky 1 ½ years old and Rua, who at 16 years loves the quiet life.

We are ever so delighted to have Gemma as part of the team and can’t wait for you to meet her!