Nicole Marie Abramo

In recent years, there has been an increased focus on the teaching of small-animal dentistry to veterinary students in order to address the recognized gap between dental skill training and the expectations of employers regarding the competencies of new graduates in this field. In this study, third-year veterinary students were trained in three canine dental core skills using either a high-fidelity model (Group A) or video instruction (Group B). An objective structured clinical examination was used to assess skill acquisition and questionnaires were distributed in order to assess student confidence and perceptions related to small-animal dentistry practice and related skills before and after the training. All results were compared between the two groups. Group A outperformed Group B in skill acquisition (p < 0.001) and there was greater improvement in skill confidence for Group A than Group B (p < 0.001). There was no statistical difference in perceptions related to small-animal dentistry between the two groups after the training (p ≥ 0.1). Group A rated their training experience more highly than Group B (p < 0.001). Although dental skill acquisition shows greater improvement when training is provided by models rather than video instruction, a blended approach to teaching dental skills is likely to be the best approach to optimizing dental skill acquisition.

A 1.66 kg, approximately 4‐week‐old, intact male canine mixed breed was evaluated for 'urinating backward'. Genitourinary evaluation revealed that the preputial opening was not patent, and his penis traversed in a caudal direction, exiting in the perineum caudal to the scrotum. Testicles were not palpated at this time. Over an 8‐week period as the dog continued to undergo musculoskeletal maturation, the scrotum would become intermittently infected, and the dermal exit site of the penis constricted the penis resulting in marked paraphimosis. En bloc preputial resection, phallectomy, scrotal ablation, castration and perineal urethrostomy (PU) were performed to correct this abnormality. Histopathology confirmed only a left testicle within the scrotum. Abdominal imaging and anti‐Mullerian hormone assay confirmed right testicular cryptorchidism. Two months after the initial surgery, successful removal of the retained right testicle was performed, and the dog was reported to be urinating through the PU stoma normally. This is the first reported case of penoscrotal transposition in a dog.