Opportunities and obstacles in veterinary dental drug delivery

Dentistry is a relatively new field in veterinary medicine, despite the fact that dental disease is common in dogs and cats. Obstacles to the development of dental treatments in animals include the diversity of the dentition among the species, the difficulty in administration of oral treatments, the different presentations of oral disease, and the cost of regulatory approval for each species. Mechanical removal of plaque and calculus has been the mainstay of periodontal disease treatment in animals and humans. New adjunctive therapies, as well as new applications for older drugs, are being introduced for periodontal therapy.