Dental Pain in Cats: A Prospective 6-Month Study

Dental pathology is among the most ubiquitous diseases in cats of all ages. Dental pain is yet to be fully understood in cats and therefore its presence is often missed. To better understand feline dental disease as a pain trigger during routine examination and whether disease severity correlates to the degree of pain, a 6-month prospective study in a cats’ only veterinary hospital in Portugal was conducted. Sixty-four cats that randomly presented for different clinical procedures were evaluated. Dental and periodontal abnormalities (primary dental parameters, PDP), as well as clinical signs related to dental pain (secondary dental parameters, SDP), were assessed. All cats underwent an oral cavity examination, upon which, the Feline Acute Pain Scale from Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital (CPS), was used in order to assess pain. Six PDP (periodontal disease, gingival index, calculus index, tooth resorption, tooth fracture and missing teeth) and five SDP (mouth discomfort, halitosis, hypersalivation, difficulty in holding food and several attempts at prehension of food), were compared with CPS pain scores. All SDP were significantly associated to higher CPS pain scores (p < 0.05). The number of missing teeth was significantly associated to higher CPS pain scores (p < 0.0001). A trend was observed between higher CPS pain scores and tooth resorption (p = 0.08). This study concluded that cats with dental disease feel pain during clinical examination and the pain increases as the severity of the disease progresses.

Corrigendum to 'Dental pathology of the wild Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus): the study of a 20th century Portuguese museum collection': Veterinary and animal science 9 (2020) 100100

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.vas.2020.100100.].

Dental pathology of the wild Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus): The study of a 20th century Portuguese museum collection

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Dental pathology of wild Iberian wolf was studied in 61 complete skulls and 4 mandibles from a museum collection.

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Museum collections can provide crucial information about wild elusive species.

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The most frequent observed abnormalities were tooth wear, periodontitis and tooth fractures.

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Dental radiography is of a great importance for the diagnose and classification of the dental and periodontal conditions.

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Dental radiography can be useful for the age estimation of archaeological Canis.

For some wild canids, such as the Iberian wolf, there is a lack of in-depth knowledge about dental pathology. We aimed to evaluate it, in a standardized manner, in specimens from a Portuguese museum collection.

Sixty-five deceased specimens of wild Iberian wolves, 61 complete skulls and 4 mandibles, collected in Portugal between 1977 and 1995, were analyzed. Sample comprised 18 females, 24 males and 23 individuals of undetermined sex. Teeth were evaluated by visual observation and dental radiography for tooth wear, periodontitis, fractures and other dental lesions.

We have found several causes for teeth absence: artefactual, secondary to periodontitis and agenesia. About 30% of the teeth showed signs of wear. Only a small (<13%) fraction of maxillary and mandibular teeth did not show periodontitis. The tooth 308 showed periodontitis in all males (p = 0.017) and the tooth 104 was significantly affected by this condition in females (p = 0.020). A significant relationship was found between females and tooth wear in three teeth. Periodontitis showed a significant association with tooth wear (p < 0.001) and fractures (p = 0.027). Tooth fractures were more frequent in the maxilla than in the mandible. Seven periapical lesions, seven root fusions and three specimens with malocclusion were identified in the collection. Results are discussed integrating information from diet, habitat, genetic and spatial behavior.

Dental radiography is here proposed as an approach for the age estimation in archaeological canids. This research contributes to the knowledge of the dental disease in the largest wolf population in Western Europe, a target subspecies of multiple conservation measures.

Feline oral cavity lesions diagnosed by histopathology: a 6-year retrospective study in Portugal

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to analyse the frequency of oral cavity lesions in cats, their anatomical location and histological diagnosis, and the effect of life stage, breed and sex on different diagnoses.

METHODS

For this purpose, a retrospective study comprising 297 feline oral cavity lesions was performed over a 6-year period between 2010 and 2015. Histopathological records from the DNAtech Pathology Laboratory (Lisbon, Portugal) were analysed.

RESULTS

The incidence of oral disease was higher in male cats (n = 173; 58.4%), mature adults (ranging from 7 to 10 years old [n = 88; 33.0%]) and in the European Shorthair breed (n = 206; 73.6%). The gingiva was the site where oral lesions were most commonly found, with 128 samples (43.1%). Incisional biopsies were used to obtain the majority of samples (n = 256; 86.2%), while excisional biopsies and punch biopsies were performed in 36 (12.1%) and five (1.7%) cases, respectively. Inflammatory and neoplastic lesions accounted for 187 (63%) and 110 (37%) of the studied cases, respectively. Malignancies were found in >80% of neoplastic cases. Feline chronic gingivostomatitis was the most common histological diagnosis (n = 116; 39.1%), followed by squamous cell carcinoma (n = 49; 16.5%) and eosinophilic granuloma complex (n = 33; 11.1%).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

The present work, involving a large series of samples of feline oral cavity lesions, from numerous geographically scattered practices and all examined at a reference veterinary pathology laboratory, adds important new understanding of the epidemiology of feline oral disease.

Toll-like receptor 9 gene in Periodontal Disease - A promising biomarker

Periodontal Disease is an infectious and inflammatory disorder triggered mainly by periodontopathogenic bacteria, however, as a multifactorial disease, several factors modulate its progression, namely, genetic factors. Toll-like receptors (TLR) recognize molecular patterns present in pathogens and trigger an immune response against them. Thus, sequences variants in TLR genes seem to have the potential to modify the predisposition to Periodontal Disease and its progression. Based on this fact, TLR9 gene were analysed in a case-control study. DNA was obtained from 90 dogs (50 control and 40 cases) and a fragment of TLR9 gene was amplified by PCR and sequenced. The variants were identified by comparison with the dog wild type sequences. Our results suggest that rs375556098 and rs201959275 polymorphisms in the TLR9 gene are good candidates to become biomarkers of the canine predisposition to Periodontal Disease. It's important to notice that these polymorphic sites exist in Human exactly in the same codon. Since the dog is the best animal model to replicate the pathophysiological mechanisms of human Periodontal Disease, these results can potentially be extrapolated to humans.

Periodontal tissue engineering strategies based on nonoral stem cells

Periodontal disease is an inflammatory disease which constitutes an important health problem in humans due to its enormous prevalence and life threatening implications on systemic health. Routine standard periodontal treatments include gingival flaps, root planning, application of growth/differentiation factors or filler materials and guided tissue regeneration. However, these treatments have come short on achieving regeneration ad integrum of the periodontium, mainly due to the presence of tissues from different embryonic origins and their complex interactions along the regenerative process. Tissue engineering (TE) aims to regenerate damaged tissue by providing the repair site with a suitable scaffold seeded with sufficient undifferentiated cells and, thus, constitutes a valuable alternative to current therapies for the treatment of periodontal defects. Stem cells from oral and dental origin are known to have potential to regenerate these tissues. Nevertheless, harvesting cells from these sites implies a significant local tissue morbidity and low cell yield, as compared to other anatomical sources of adult multipotent stem cells. This manuscript reviews studies describing the use of non-oral stem cells in tissue engineering strategies, highlighting the importance and potential of these alternative stem cells sources in the development of advanced therapies for periodontal regeneration.