a bit of advice...i read something that really worried me on here

VictoriaEDT

VictoriaEDT

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 June 2005
Messages
3,310
Location
Somerset
www.equinedental.co.uk
I am not usually one to tell people what to do and if someone had a dental question I am more than happy to try and help out and leave people to make their own decisions. However, I read a post "vets or dentists" on page after this and something really concerned me. I read that one user didnt want the vet to do her 30 year old horses teeth as they wanted to use power equipment and they thought this could pull out their horses teeth and so chose an EDT who did it by hand.
This really worried me because horses of that age should catagorically NOT be rasped by hand as the teeth are not anchored like they used to be and the intense pulling action is incredibly uncomfortable for the horse and WILL loosen them even more if not pull them out. However, The power equipment would be a rotating diamond coated disc (or other burr) that will grind the tooth down with minimal pulling on the tooth itself.
I feel quite strongly about this because we all love our geriatric horses and try to sustain good health and weight when rasping by hand will almost certainly be of detriment to geriatrics. This is by no means the owners fault here, it seems she was misinformed by the EDT (and the vet was right in this case) and sure she (sorry dont know username) had the best intentions for her horse.
Please note though that the age where we switch from hand to power differs from horse to horse depending on how expired/anchored the teeth are. EG a horse that has had regular dentistry throughout its life will have longer lasting teeth.
 
Thanks for that, I always wondered why when the dentist came to our yard they ALWAYS used the power tools on the two oldies (they are not mine, so I never asked as thought it might sound nosey), this explains a lot.
 
I agree with that, recently they have just started doing pickles with power tools, I always wondered exactly why. Also all the older horses at the yard are always done by power toold
 
Oh dear now I am really worried as my old boy who will be 27 this month, had his teeth done in 2007 by the Vet using power tools and this year the same Vet rasped them
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The power tool treatment was to correct his bite, and the EDT had for many years suggested this, but said that he would need to sedated
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. At the time I thought it was only as suggestion, as the EDT said that that due to his work, it was not imprerative that everything was chewed up correctly
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However when my Vet, in 2007, said he now needed the treatment as he could not move his jaw left to right (or something like that
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) he was done straight away, using the power tools.

He has got all his teeth and they seem ok .... so would this be why the Vet rasped them this year, rather than power tools again, or should I suggest power tools next time?

I really do not want to do any damage to my much loved horse, through ignorance
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My pony's teeth are starting to fall out now
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. So I shall make sure they are only done with the power tools in future, thanks.
(slightly off subject) As you are an EDT, can you advise as to whether they make equine dentures
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Sorry Victoria I dont agree with you....I would never have any horse of mine rasped any other way than by hand and I would never have the vet do it either..Prefer to stick with an actual dentist I wouldnt want a Doctor to do my teeth
 
[ QUOTE ]
Sorry Victoria I dont agree with you....I would never have any horse of mine rasped any other way than by hand and I would never have the vet do it either..Prefer to stick with an actual dentist I wouldnt want a Doctor to do my teeth

[/ QUOTE ]

You can't compare human doctors and dentists to equine vets and dentists - the human side of dentistry is much more advanced.
Although equine qualifications are changing...some of the people who called themselves 'equine dentists' have popped across to the USA for a very brief course....
S
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Meant more in the way that I wouldn't have the vet trim my horses feet or farrier take blood... I went by word of mouth and personal recommendations to find (what was) my horses dentist and he was wonderful.
 
I use a fantastic denitst who also lectures at a leading equine college.

He uses mostly power tools on all the horses, does a little by hand, not much.

Horses that previously needed sedating for hand rasping stand quietly unsedated as they are not getting pulled around, also the longer handles of the power tools allow the horses to raise their heads slightly and they just seem more comfortable.

I once had a 15 year old horse have a molar split in half lengthways by rough hand rasping.
 
no probs thats fine you are entitled to your opinion, however there is no way that all horses can have sufficient treatment just by using hand instrumentation. TBH I use hand instrumentation for around 60-70% of my clients horses, but there are instances where it is unsafe to do so in older horses (you would be surprised by the amount of manual force put on hand instrumentation) or horses that have malocclusions that need correction.
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My EDT will only ever use power tools on my lot who are all veterans, only once have i had to have a horse sedated and that was because the EDT (with the vet present) had to remove a displaced tooth.
Even stan my 18 yearold who has had his teeth done far more regularly then the others (others are of unknown history) has power tools and there is nothing loose about his teeth.
 
please dont think it is through your ignorance...you pay an EDT/vet/farrier/physio etc to do a job and so it should be done in a caring and professional manner. As I said each horse is an individual, I have come accross some older mid 20s horses that have pretty firm teeth and could probably be done by hand but only with extremely sharp carbide blades. But if power can be used on oldies then it should be.
 
and shils is completley right which is probably half the problem. Just to note, it is actually illegal to call yourself a horse "dentist" as this title is ONLY allowed to be given to human dentists. Therefore, is illegal to advertise as being a dentist, have dentist written on you car/dental charts etc. Equine Dental Technician, Dental Services, Equine Dentistry etc is all legal and would give an indicator on the technicians experience and qualifications.
 
Having had a total disaster a few years ago with an 'equine dentist' I'll only use my vet to do their teeth, as a PP has said, there are too many people with a certificate from America & a bag of rasps doing allsorts of damage to IMO risk my horses teeth again (the ED i had used came via word of mouth)
 
I have to agree with you, last year vet came to do routine injections and sugested while he was there would i like him to do horses teeth, (had been done previous year by EDT no problem wonderfull job) i agreed for the vet to do with rasp, resulted in the vet upseting both the horses and i asked him to stop in the end. This year back to the EDT with the power tools excellent job no upset horses, in fact stood without being held and one of them fell asleep, Never again will i allow vet to do teeth.
 
I just wanted to thank you as I didn't know anything about power tools or rasping by hand - I hadn't appreciated that there was a difference.

So interesting!
 
[ QUOTE ]
I am not usually one to tell people what to do and if someone had a dental question I am more than happy to try and help out and leave people to make their own decisions. However, I read a post "vets or dentists" on page after this and something really concerned me. I read that one user didnt want the vet to do her 30 year old horses teeth as they wanted to use power equipment and they thought this could pull out their horses teeth and so chose an EDT who did it by hand.
This really worried me because horses of that age should catagorically NOT be rasped by hand as the teeth are not anchored like they used to be and the intense pulling action is incredibly uncomfortable for the horse and WILL loosen them even more if not pull them out. However, The power equipment would be a rotating diamond coated disc (or other burr) that will grind the tooth down with minimal pulling on the tooth itself.
I feel quite strongly about this because we all love our geriatric horses and try to sustain good health and weight when rasping by hand will almost certainly be of detriment to geriatrics. This is by no means the owners fault here, it seems she was misinformed by the EDT (and the vet was right in this case) and sure she (sorry dont know username) had the best intentions for her horse.
Please note though that the age where we switch from hand to power differs from horse to horse depending on how expired/anchored the teeth are. EG a horse that has had regular dentistry throughout its life will have longer lasting teeth.

[/ QUOTE ] it was me that posted this and i was told by me EDT that it was too powerful to use on old horses teeth why not pm me if you had a problem with what i posted
 
Our EDT uses loads of different power tools, he has more equipment than a human dentist sometimes
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He is very highly respected, lectures at Veterinary University and he has said to me about not hand rasping an older pony's teeth.
 
28jen28 I thought that this was a good topic, and not aimed at you in particular so don't feel got at. I'm pleased it's been discussed because it's something I hadn't thought of.
 
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