February is National Pet Dental Health Month, so I thought it would be interesting to interview a general practitioner who has been helping patients for over 50 years and learn a thing or two from his decades-long experience.
Bud Larson, DVM, owns North Fayette Animal Clinic in West Union, Iowa. Dr. Larson graduated from the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1970. For the first 25 years of his career, Larson cared for both small and large animals. In the mid ’90s, his practice shifted to focus on treating the surgical, medical, and dental needs of small animal patients.
I first met Dr. Larson when I was lecturing at a continuing education event at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine in 2013. Larson has been a reader of my column, “Dental Pearls,” since the early days, when I started writing for Veterinary Practice News in 2009, and occasionally he will give me a call to ask me a question about a particular topic I wrote about, or to tell me a column was useful.
I was pleased he was willing to sit down for this feature, this time to share his story and insights about his career and the profession.
Dr. John R. Lewis (JL): Tell me how you became interested in veterinary medicine.
Dr. Bud Larson (BL): I became interested when I was a young boy on the farm. While in grade school and high school, I would follow our veterinarian, Dr. Norton Larson, when he visited our farm to examine and treat the livestock and we became friends. When he wasn’t working on the farm, he would take me fishing with him. Years later, after I became a veterinarian and he had retired, he would ride with me sometimes on country calls! He proved to be a great mentor.
JL: Where did you obtain your first job after graduating veterinary school?
BL: I graduated from the Iowa State University in 1970. I went into mixed animal practice in Fayette, IA with Dr. Ernie Dahlquist, who had been there for a number of years. I worked for him and then we became partners. We would perform examinations, spays, neuters, minor surgeries, and teeth cleanings. We did not perform complex dental procedures because I felt I didn’t have the training at that time or the equipment to do a good job. We referred involved surgeries, including dental procedures, to another practice.
JL: At what point did you make the move to strictly small animal practice?
BL: About 25 years ago. This area changed a lot. When I started my career years earlier, I was primarily working with family farms. Many of those farms went out of the livestock business and went into grain farming. I decided at the time to focus on small animal practice with the encouragement of my wife, Rita, who has always been so supportive of my career and our practice. That was in the mid-1990s. I started to attend some of the major small animal conferences, such as the Veterinary Dental Forum. I obtained a subscription to the Journal of Veterinary Dentistry, which was very helpful since it contains “step-by-step” procedure guides in some issues.
JL: Did your interest in dentistry arise from love or necessity?
BL: Both! I saw the need to strive for a healthy mouth with appropriate dental care for our patients. One of the things that sparked my interest was a conference conducted by William (Bill) Gengler, DVM, DAVDC. I really found Bill’s lectures very enlightening and pursued more dental continuing education (CE) as a result.
Richard Meadows, DVM, DABVP, has also been a huge influence on me with the wonder CE programs he puts on at University of Missouri.
We purchased a high-speed/low-speed dental unit and a dental X-ray machine. At the time, we were developing films in dip tanks, which was time intensive. After that, we bought an automatic film processor and I thought that was the greatest thing in the world… until we purchased a digital radiography unit. The digital dental radiograph unit was the piece of equipment that really felt helped us a lot. I went to more and more dental courses, some of which you had conducted. As I attended more lectures and wet labs, I felt I could do more, and now we’ve been doing not only cleaning with the ultrasonic scaler, but also anesthetized examinations, extractions, and root planing. I was better equipped and trained, which allowed me to do some of the procedures that we previously referred.
JL: It’s interesting to think how the simple act of obtaining a dental radiograph has changed so much over the past two decades. What else has changed regarding care of the dental patient?
BL: We did not have much training on dental health in school. It has been impressive to see the progress regarding dental educational opportunities in CE and journal articles on dentistry. The advent of digital dental radiography has done so much for our veterinary patients.
Other things that have improved drastically include monitoring of patients receiving anesthesia, including CO2, oxygen, EKG, and blood pressure monitoring. We do a better job at keeping the patient warm using warm air blankets. Pain control is so much better today, with local anesthetic and multi-modal approaches to pain relief.
Client education has improved a lot through the years, allowing for improved prevention. Increasing the frequency of dental cleanings allows us to get a better handle on prevention and treating pathology especially in the early stages.
JL: As someone who has been practicing for over 50 years, what do you see on the horizon for veterinary medicine?
BL: I can see it’s going to keep advancing regarding education, technology, equipment. All these things combine to result in better care for the health of the patient.
JL: You’re still going strong, working up to 5.5 days per week at the practice, which speaks to the love you have for your chosen field.
BL: I’ve always enjoyed the challenge and enjoyment of working with pets. I enjoyed working in mixed animal practice, but now that I’m working with small animals, I can become more focused..
JL: What advice would you give to a general practitioner who is doing a lot of dentistry in practice, but doesn’t particularly enjoy it?
BL: Sometimes it’s worth diving into a discussion of approach to certain common dental issues, such as a fractured maxillary 4th premolar to determine what is the frustrating part. Sometimes they just haven’t had enough education in dentistry to know how to tackle a situation or they don’t have proper equipment to be able to tackle it. Sometimes it’s just a matter of becoming more comfortable with it. I’ve been able to consult with specialists such as yourself, which has been invaluable in my growth through the years. This has sparked more of an interest and allowed me to gain confidence.
JL: Any parting thoughts?
BL: Just that if we can make a pet feel more comfortable and healthier through our endeavors, that should be our goal.
General practitioners like Bud are inspiring in their desire to care for patients for decades, and their ability to stay current in the science of veterinary medicine, surgery, and dentistry. As Bud says, “it’s all about continual learning.”
John Lewis, VMD, DAVDC, FF-OMFS practices and teaches at Veterinary Dentistry Specialists and Silo Academy Education Center, both located in Chadds Ford, PA.