I’ve talked about how my horses have seen the dentist before, but this time, I got pictures! I didn’t get great detailed pictures, but I promise at some point I’ll try to do that. Remember when we found out that Gump is missing tooth #9? It’s essentially a molar in the back of his head. I don’t have pictures of the hole, but what I do have is a horse with a low-grade infection in his mouth. I had known for a while that he was sore in his mouth, by virtue of how he’s been riding around, and today when she got in there you could smell the bacteria. The dentist isn’t a vet, so I called my vet, who actually answered the phone, believe it or not, and suggested 2 days of penicillin shots, and then we’ll put him on an oral antibiotic to see if we can close the hole. In the meantime he can’t have any of the wonderful Texas Coastal Hay that we are known for *insert sarcasm here*; I’ll have to go and buy him some leafy green alfalfa so it’s easier for him to eat.
Here’s one of the speculums she used:
Here we are getting started:
Looking at the mouth:
One of the many different files she used:
File, file, file, file, file:
Here she is feeling and filing at the same time:
I bet y’all are thinking at this point, “Does she ever get bit?” And the answer to that is, sometimes. And she says it’s always her fault. She’s got her hand somewhere that it shouldn’t be at that particular moment.
Her assistant, who happens to be her mom holds a crutch under his chin to help keep his head in the right place. Since the horse is sedated to do this work, their heads would normally rest at about a mid-point between up and the ground. You can also see her holding a flashlight in her left hand in this shot.
Time to break out the power tools:
She has what basically amounts to a drill- but it’s flat and round, and allows her to file the teeth faster than she would otherwise be able to do by hand. It operates with a pedal on the ground, sort of like a sewing machine. Pretty cool stuff.
You can see it in this photo- bottom left corner:
Gump’s mouth is a bit sore now, and since he can’t eat grass hay, he’ll be eating a lot of alfalfa pellets until I get to somewhere to get him some leafy, soft, green alfalfa hay. He’s going to feel better in a couple days, that’s for sure!
Nice blog about your equine dentistry visit. I don’t agree with drugging, jacking the mouth, and the use of power tools. I am glad that it was uneventful. I still don’t understand how a non vet can give drugs without a license.
For local infections of the mouth, try flushing the area with Peroxyl (Colgate – found at every pharmacy and grocery store in the mouth wash section). Use a syringe attached to a uterine insemination pipette cut to length. I am assuming the floater smoothed the edges of the socket so the tongue can enter the area and clean it. Most local infections stem from sharp edges not allowing the tongue to clean thoroughly.
Just my thoughts. Doc T
Wow, there is even a debate about how to treat horses’ teeth (looking at the above comment), huh?
I hope Gump feels better!
I think the only thing in the horse industry that shouldn’t be debatable is “horsemanship”. The commenter below said it best when she said a good dentist is a good dentist, and frankly, as much into horsemanship and as much as I desire to be a good horseman, there’s no way you’d catch me at the dentist, letting him work on my teeth w/out a sedative, so I don’t buy into the notion of asking my horse to do that. But to each his own, and insomuch as I’ve seen from the good Doctor that commented, he has a good repore with horses, and that’s important. When I refer to horsemanship, I refer to people that are students of the horse. Just because someone is a horse trainer, doesn’t make them a horseman. A good horseman puts themselves in the horse’s shoes so to speak, and thinks about things from a horse’s perspective, takes the blame when things don’t go like they’re supposed to; and they understand that how their horse operates is their responsibility. They’ll be more concerned with having their horse be able to do things on a slack rein, in little to no headgear or be interested in making a bridle horse- more about that later. Thanks for the comments and interest as always!
LOL-Maureen-EVERYTHING horse related is ‘debatable’.
There is currently some debate about the ‘over-use’ of power tools when floating teeth.
But the thing is…a good equine dentist is not going to over-float(grind away) a horse’s teeth irregardless of whether they use power tools or hand float.
We actually stopped using our veterinarian for manual floats because he was so freaking rough on the horse’s mouths. Poor things had bloody gums and were sore for days.
The guy we use now does power floats and he is so much kinder to the horses. Also, he is adament that not ALL horses need to have their teeth floated every year. He checks everybody annually-but some of our horses haven’t needed an actual float for a couple of years now. If there is a rough edge, he will just knock it off manually and leave the rest alone.
It all boils down to the quality of the work performed and the integrity of the person performing the work, not the actual method.
As for the drugs…those are easy enough to get…for anyone!
SDC-Hope Gumpers feels better soon.:-)
I know our horses have sedation when the vet comes to do their dental work & and annual check up, also makes it a bit easier for him to check and clean all the boy bits when they are on the happy drugs. As you say, a good vet or dentist is responsible & won’t over use the drugs & tools. You have to be happy with your practitioner just like you wouldn’t trust any old doctor.
My donkey’s have never had any mouth work, but if they ever do they will have to have some form of sedation. It would be impossible otherwise…