Well, tomorrow Lucy is getting her teeth done.  She hasn't seen a dentist in over a year (I've had her only 5 weeks), so I'm wondering what he's going to find when he looks in her mouth.  I know only vaguely what's going to happen--she'll be tranqued up, then have some metal thing stuck in her mouth to keep it open, then he'll go at her with the float.  Trainer says it could take more than 45 min or so once he starts doing his thing, depending on what's going on w/her teeth.

Do the horses feel any pain while they're getting their teeth filed?  Does the dentist pull a tooth if s/he finds one that's abscessed, etc?  Do horses get cavities??

I'd love to hear tales of horse dentistry, if you care to share!  Thanks.

Mary 

Hi bc54,  I don't have any big equine dentistry tales .... yet

My 3 year old will have her wolf teeth pulled soon, so maybe I'll have some tall tales to tell after that !

My vet looks after my horses' teeth - he uses a specuulum but no tranquilizer - a routine floating takes about 15-20 minutes - and they behave very well (touch wood*), so I doubt if there is any pain related to this routine task.

 Hi,

  I just had all 3 of my horses done friday.  All three were given a mild tranquilizer because of the nature of the treatment.  They seemed fine for the most part.  There is something about doing the upper teeth that made then pull back more than the bottom.  It took about 15-20 minutes per horse and then they were fine.  My 1 horse has a bad wave that is either genetic or from not having proper dentist work done before I got him but my vet says it should be corrected after a few more floats.  My horses seemed to have no issue or pain with the procedure just didn't like having something put in the back of their mouth.  Not sure about abscesses or cavities only have had a tooth pulled that had broken, and it was a wolf tooth so no biggie.  Other than the price it was a relatively easy procedure.  Good luck!! 

Our vet was out this week and floated several horse's teeth.  Once they've been tranquilized, they really don't care what you do to them lol.  I took the opportunity to have his sheath cleaned. 

I've also watched our vet pull our horse's wolf teeth with a pair of pliers, and my horse didn't appear to be in any pain at all.

I did learn from the vet that it is possible for the speculman (spelling?) can snap shut and break an arm.  He told me this after I asked to feel my horse's molars while his mouth was propped open!

I've neve heard of a horse having cavities, abcesses, etc.  The only tooth problem I'm aware of is of a horse that cribs and wears them down to the point he is unable to chew properly.

Well, Lucy's dentistry went w/o a hitch.  She had a lot of points (or whatever you call them) to be filed down, and her front teeth really needed to be spruced up.  Poor girl had to have 2 shots of tranq and she was pretty woozy by the time the job was done.  It took about 45 minutes.  The dentist gave me a chart of what he'd done (he fixed her "smile" and the wavy thing she had going on in the back) and said to keep it for reference for the next time he works on her, which should be in a year or so.  All the contraptions just amazed me, and the drilling stuff looked like something a well-stocked woodworker would have.  Yikes!

Mary 

Glad everything went well wit Lucy.

Here's an article I wrote a few years about when Annapolis had his teeth floated, using power tools, lol!

http://www.equisearch.com/horse_care/health/dentistry/teeth_float012904/

Last year, with a different vet, she was able to just use handtools, but Annapolis still needed two shots of sedative and even then he managed to shake his head so much, the headstall/speculum came out of his mouth!  He's just a pill when it comes to vets.

 Hey bc, good that the dental visit went so well.

My 3 yr old had her wolf teeth pulled last week & she behaved very well too  -- although she also was 'pretty woozy by the time the job was done' .

Hmmm .. interesting comment about the woodworking tools -- my DH does woodcarving - maybe I could get him to tend to the equine dental needs

 I have my horse's teeth checked once a year. He's been floated twice now in 2+ years. Tranq'd both times. Last time the vet used what looked like a power tool with a large thing that was rough, which ground his teeth (the hooks) down pretty easily (15 min.). I don't think he was in any pain, altho there was some bleeding. By the time he fully woke up he was interested in nibbling on grass. However, I didn't ride him for a day or more to be sure his gums weren't sore.

I've noticed that most of you have your horses sedated. Why is that? Is it that your horse is not comfortable with the floating or that the vet prefers having them sedated. When ever my vet does it by hand, there is no sedation but if they have to use power tools, then they get sedated. Just wondering. Have any of you that have them sedated ever tried to get it done without it?

My guy had his teeth done about 2 weeks ago. They sedated him, put his head up on a head rest, stuck a big speculum in his mouth to keep it open and did the float. Didn't take 45 minutes, but this was his second float. Maybe 20 minutes. He didn't give a care about having his teeth done. They also cleaned his sheath and beaned him since he was sedated...that he cared about!

The vet did the whole barn this day..I got to watch him pull teeth too. Just like humans reaches in with what look like pliers and takes them out.

Your horse won't remember a thing.

When Minx was boarded my vet floated her teeth and she always sedates and uses power tools.

Now that we're on the farm, I had my girls' teeth floated a few weeks ago by an equine dentist who did not sedate. He put the speculum in and manually floated. After each small area, he closed the speculum to let them rest. Neither of the mares was a big fan of the procedure, but they didn't do anything worse than walk around him while he was working on them. He just walked with them with his arm up in their mouths until they got tired of going in circles and stood still. We had them contained in a large stall and I held the lead rope. He told me that the biggest danger was getting whacked by the big heavy speculum if there was head tossing. So when he closed the speculum, I stayed out of reach.

spragueme:

I've noticed that most of you have your horses sedated. Why is that? Is it that your horse is not comfortable with the floating or that the vet prefers having them sedated. When ever my vet does it by hand, there is no sedation but if they have to use power tools, then they get sedated. Just wondering. Have any of you that have them sedated ever tried to get it done without it?

Until two years ago, my horses were always floated manually by the vet and without sedation.

Then I found an equine dentist who uses power tools and therefore sedation was needed. 

That first year with the equine dentist (to answer a Poster's tooth-pulling questions), he did have to pull a molar on my Arab, who was 20 at the time; it was very loose anyway and the dentist wanted to pull it before it either caused infection or the horse might swallow the tooth and choke on it.  Streeter now has four molars missing (three came out by themselves).  I rescued him 15 years ago as a head attached to a skeleton, which I blame all his health issues on.

When the equine dentist came back last Fall, he said everyone's teeth looked great -- no points - nothing.

For what it's worth, I've never had my horses sedated.  I use a master equine dentist who doesn't believe in sedation or power tools.  His theory is that if the horse is sedated, his lower jaw goes slack and he can't get a good picture of the alignmnet of upper and lower teeth as he works. His theory, not mine, so I'm not going to attack or defend it. 

 JMFriedman- who is the dentist? I was just wondering if it's the same person I use?

Dukey:

 JMFriedman- who is the dentist? I was just wondering if it's the same person I use?

 I use Bill Schultz.  Do you know him?  He's from PA but does NJ too.