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OUR TEAM - NZ VET DENTISTRY
Dr. Crystal C. Loh
BSc DVM MANZCVS DAVDC
Director
New Zealand Veterinary Dentistry Ltd. is a Waikato-based referral veterinary dentistry service owned and operated by Dr. Crystal Loh. Dr. Crystal is a Canadian veterinarian who studied at the University of Guelph, Ontario Veterinary College, graduating in 2007. Following this she completed a one year internship at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville College of Veterinary Medicine.
In 2008 Dr. Crystal moved overseas to New Zealand in search of dairy cattle and hobbits. She worked predominantly with dairy cattle for four years before transitioning to solely companion animal practice. Dr. Crystal developed a keen interest in dentistry from there, largely in part to her greyhound, Moe, who suffered from periodontal disease. She also found utmost delight in being able to treat and manage painful conditions in her patients, improving their overall quality of life. It is because of Moe that Dr. Crystal founded the Moe's Tooth Fairy Fund, which provides assistance to rescue animals and other needy cases requiring advanced dental and oral surgery work.
In 2016 Dr. Crystal acquired membership with the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists by examination in the Small Animal Dentistry & Oral Surgery chapter. She then operated a dental referral service in Hamilton for 2 years before deciding to embark on an intensive 3 year conforming residency in veterinary dentistry overseas. In 2022 Dr. Crystal passed her final board examinations and completed all the requirements of the program, becoming a fully board certified veterinary dentist with the American Veterinary Dental College.
Dr. Crystal is one of only three board certified veterinary dentists in New Zealand, and one of two who holds board certification with the American Veterinary Dental College, the highest qualification in the field, as well as membership with the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists.
Dr. Crystal has a keen interest in the fields of oral surgery and endodontics, but loves all things dentistry related. She is passionate about teaching and upskilling other veterinarians and veterinary nurses so that they can provide a high standard of care to their patients. Dr. Crystal has lectured across Australia and New Zealand, and in the USA. She leads regular workshops for general veterinarians as a contractor to PracticalCPD, operated by KahuVet, is a tutor for the online Center of Veterinary Education practical dentistry course operated by the University of Sydney, and has authored work for the New Zealand Veterinary Association. She also serves on two committees within the AVDC and is a current Examiner for the ANZCVS Membership exams.
Dr. Crystal provides in-clinic training tailored to meet the specific needs of local general veterinarians covering a wide range of topics, from implementation of dentistry wellness programs, dental radiography technique and interpretation, and dental extractions. She has run many successful sessions in both the North and South Islands.
Over her career, she has participated in multiple voluntary veterinary expeditions throughout the USA, Spain and Tonga, and hopes to embark on further expeditions in the future to provide veterinary and dental specific care to animals globally.
Aside from dentistry, Dr. Crystal enjoys spending time with her two wonderful sons and husband, 2 dogs and 3 cats on their dairy farm in the Waikato. She loves to cook, bake artisan bread, garden, and play piano in her free time. She is learning to play the violin with the goal of playing in the community orchestra one day.
Renee, RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse - Dentistry Focus
Renee is an experienced vet nurse who has been in the industry for 6 years. She originally hails from Ngatea and got into veterinary nursing because of her sweet childhood cat who she promised she would look after when he got old, and she did just that! She grew her passion for helping those without a voice from there.
She joins the NZ Vet Dentistry team because she loves all the different curve balls that our unique cases come with, and enjoys learning about and being part of all the different things that can be done to save our pets’ important teeth to make an immediate difference to their overall health and quality of life!
She has a passion for all things dentistry, and is aiming to achieve her VTS in dentistry as time goes on.
Renee is not only a superb nurse with a keen eye for patient care – she has also done some pretty amazing things in her life, including once being an army training cadet and flying a glider!
She has a whole menagerie of animals including two heading dogs, named Pip and Sharp, two cats called Cookie (Princess Cookie, to you!) and Sylvester, two budgies named Pippi and Jeff, and 3 chickens named Pam, Betty and Hetty. In her down time, Renee loves getting stuck into the veggie garden, enjoys cultivating rare plants and would love to create a cool new flower garden.
Natalie, RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse - Dentistry Focus
Natalie (a.k.a. Nat) is a highly experienced senior nurse of nearly 10 years who joins the New Zealand Veterinary Dentistry team with her many talents.
Nat left high-school with the intention of going into architecture and graphic design but quickly found that it wasn't her calling. Due to growing up on a dairy farm, animals have always been a massive part of her life and she couldn't think of a better way to spend her days than caring for our furry family members.
After working with a certain dental focused vet (who you may know 😉) at the beginning of her career, her love and enthusiasm for veterinary dentistry blossomed! Her dad coincidentally is also a human dentist, so she has never had the classic phobia of dentistry that plenty of people encounter. What she loves is that dentistry is such a fascinating field of veterinary care, and often makes life changing differences to our patient's lives which is so incredibly rewarding.
Nat originally immigrated from South Africa with her family when she was five years old, but grew up in the Waikato region. She is proud to call Hamilton her hometown.
She has a loveable dog called Mash, and several cats including Eoin, Harvey, Lance, and Floyd.
In Nat’s spare time she is a volunteer firefighter, keeping herself busy facing new challenges, learning valuable skills, as well as giving back to this amazing community. She often takes part in vital fundraising events with her incredible volunteer fire brigade such as the Skytower Challenge which raised just over $2M in 2025 for Leukaemia and Blood Cancer NZ!
When she is out of work, Nat loves reading, caring for fur-babies, getting out on the farm milking cows, and getting out fighting fires. She is a huge Lord of the Rings nerd, and proud of it! Her other favourite 'down time' activities include cooking, baking, hiking, and socializing with friends and family.
Over the next few years Nat is looking forward to focusing on developing my skills and knowledge within the veterinary dentistry realm and working towards her VTS!
We are so excited to have a nurse of Nat’s calibre on this team and can’t wait for you to meet her, she is phenomenal!