Dental fees for someone who doesn’t know about horses

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Unexpectedhorse

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Need advice regarding horse & teeth



Sadly we had a family member unexpectedly pass away last year, she left her beloved horse which is now being looked after by family.
The horse has CPL and has gum disease meaning all its front & side teeth need removing asap (not the very backs though).
Does anyone know how much this costs all together?
All we can find is per tooth online but we’re looking at least 15 teeth needing to be removed.
We’re having a nightmare with the insurance, they asked for death certificates and said they’d get in touch to transfer the name over but they keep sending us in circles so we cannot sort the insurance claim out yet. We’re trying to urgently sort this to see if insurance will pay out under gum disease.
The previous owner tried to claim before but the insurance refused but they tried under a teeth condition rather than gum disease.
Just wondering how much we’re looking at cost wise with the vets? There isn’t much money left from the estate and I’m panicking incase it doesn’t cover the bills & the insurance doesn’t pay out and we’re left massively in debt!

Thanks.
 
Does the horse have EORTH? Extraction cost is likely to vary depending on how hard they are to pull, was there a vet dealing with it previously?
 
Unexpectedhorse said:
Need advice regarding horse & teeth



Sadly we had a family member unexpectedly pass away last year, she left her beloved horse which is now being looked after by family.
The horse has CPL and has gum disease meaning all its front & side teeth need removing asap (not the very backs though).
Does anyone know how much this costs all together?
All we can find is per tooth online but we’re looking at least 15 teeth needing to be removed.
We’re having a nightmare with the insurance, they asked for death certificates and said they’d get in touch to transfer the name over but they keep sending us in circles so we cannot sort the insurance claim out yet. We’re trying to urgently sort this to see if insurance will pay out under gum disease.
The previous owner tried to claim before but the insurance refused but they tried under a teeth condition rather than gum disease.
Just wondering how much we’re looking at cost wise with the vets? There isn’t much money left from the estate and I’m panicking incase it doesn’t cover the bills & the insurance doesn’t pay out and we’re left massively in debt!

Thanks.
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I was quoted about 8 yrs ago for an upper molar between £600 - £1800.
 
Yes it’s EORTH.
Yes vet was dealing with it prior, however all had to get put on hold obviously. We have a quote here for £600 but I think to memory that was just for 4 teeth. Ideally we need a fresh quote for all the teeth and time and costs.
£1800 for one tooth? The problem we have is the estate left is half of that, we’re banking on the insurance paying out as we just don’t have thousands lying around. This was all very unexpected.
 

Tooth removal

Ho , anybody had a tooth removed equome of course , how much did it cost ? Been wiated £2000 for removal
forums.horseandhound.co.uk forums.horseandhound.co.uk

Here's my post, I thought it was £600 but obviously not.

Friends gelding had EORTH a couple if years ago and had to have loads out and was sent a bill for £13k which he managed to reduce down to £8k as they'd not kept him informed of the escalating cost whilst the horse was being treated at the hospital.
 
A lot of the cost for a single tooth will be the sedation etc that will stay similar doing multiples and if there’s significant demineralisation they won’t be as hard to pull.

I would get the vets out again so you can get an accurate estimate, you can’t really make a decision with it.

Depending on what the situation is for this horses care going forwards and how bad the CPL is I would also have a quality of life discussion with them before progressing.
 
Ask a vet dentist for an idea of costs. Whereabouts are you based?

I had a lot of dental work done on mine inc two incisor extractions and two fillings and it came in at under £1500 inc all x rays etc. Vet dentist had pulled 11 incisors in one session on another horse before he came to mine one time.
 
Unexpectedhorse said:
Wow 8k is a lot. My budget is 2k max and that’s with me topping up the estate by most of it.
I think if insurance won’t pay out we’ll have to be realistic here, none of family members ride and we were thinking of loaning out and it’s a lot of money for a horse we won’t be able to do anything with. I feel awful.
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Based on the thread i attached you can see a few people were charged similarly.

However don't panic just yet and try not to worry. Just get some quotes. Shop around. Good luck x
 
Can I get quotes from different vets or must it be the one that’s usually used? Is it like car insurance where you go to different garages? I kid you not when I say I have no idea about horses, I just want the best for him. He’s a lovely horse but I don’t want to prolong his suffering. He already has gone lame last year with his Cpl and has had mild colic it seems very year he’s getting more poorly.
 
@Unexpectedhorse I appreciate it is probably a very difficult time for you and you are doing your very best for this horse. But how old is the horse, is it even practical to consider such extensive dental work if the horse is aged? I am not suggesting for one moment that you should not undertake the dental treatment, but I would very carefully consider if it is the best decision for the horse and for those now caring for it.

I would not want my family or friends to get themselves into financial difficulties if they found themselves in a similar position with my horse and would rather they made the end of life PTS option for their own peace of mind and the horse's welfare. I am very sorry for your loss. :(
 
Unexpectedhorse said:
Can I get quotes from different vets or must it be the one that’s usually used? Is it like car insurance where you go to different garages? I kid you not when I say I have no idea about horses, I just want the best for him. He’s a lovely horse but I don’t want to prolong his suffering. He already has gone lame last year with his Cpl and has had mild colic it seems very year he’s getting more poorly.
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You can get quotes from different vets but they might want to assess themselves before doing so. There are also some specialist dental practices around, if you were happy to give a vague location people might have recommendations
 
If the horse has a significant number of teeth removed then it’s going to struggle to eat normal forage and may need an expensive and time consuming program of nutrition. I certainly would expect to be able to loan the horse out afterwards.
As sad as it all is, it may be better for the horse to be PTS. It has 2 significant conditions which will worsen without significant input of expertise, time and money
 
Horse is 16. We’re in Essex.
Yes that’s my concern, the owner was willing to do it prior but they spent a lot of time & money at the stables. They’d even spent one night in the stables when he had colic! We’re just not able to do that, my worry is also if we loaned that the loaner wouldn’t be able to give us much care to the horse either. He already needs every other day leg washes and regular clipping etc. it’s a lot. He also has mites, that despite throwing everything & the kitchen sink at never been able to get rid of them.
 
There would be no shame in putting to sleep. As you've discovered the removal of the teeth will be massively expensive. The after care will need to be managed very, very carefully - with no overall guarantee of success. And unless you can commit to that then personally I'd put the horse down. Without guilt or conscious.
 
OP I think you probably know the best and most realistic outcome for this horse. I would not loan out either. The horse's wellbeing is already quite compromised and he would be classic example of an old horse with existing health challenges that could well get passed from pillar to post, not all would be loaners have the best intentions.

Do not feel bad if you make the call, many many of us on here have had to do that and nobody judges anyone who PTS to guarantee the safe and dignified ending for a well loved horse.
 
At 16 and not being the original owner with a strong attachment, I'm afraid I would PTS rather than pull all those teeth. Many horses have a hard time recovering from that procedure and I know of at least 1 owner who now thinks she was wrong to have put the horse through it.

I'm sorry you're in such a sad situation.
.
 
Unexpectedhorse said:
Horse is 16. We’re in Essex.
Yes that’s my concern, the owner was willing to do it prior but they spent a lot of time & money at the stables. They’d even spent one night in the stables when he had colic! We’re just not able to do that, my worry is also if we loaned that the loaner wouldn’t be able to give us much care to the horse either. He already needs every other day leg washes and regular clipping etc. it’s a lot. He also has mites, that despite throwing everything & the kitchen sink at never been able to get rid of them.
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Like I said in my post I was considering letting go of my horse as they were older with other issues and I didn't feel I could justify spending up to 2K on a tooth removal anymore than I could justify paying £1k for an MRI of Lari's foot.

You have to go with your gut and there's comes a point when you have to say enough is enough.
 
I think the issue is (as why we’ve not PTS yet) there’s a lot of pressure off the rest of the family to keep the horse going, they are unrealistic about the teeth removal costs saying max it’d be is a grand for all along with expecting the insurance to cover it all and that’s just not the case clearly. I think my mind is made up, but just to be sure I will get quotes and try and get this insurance sorted in the next week before making my final decision. Give him a final few weeks of enjoying being in the field soaking up the sunshine.
 
Unexpectedhorse said:
I think the issue is (as why we’ve not PTS yet) there’s a lot of pressure off the rest of the family to keep the horse going, they are unrealistic about the teeth removal costs saying max it’d be is a grand for all along with expecting the insurance to cover it all and that’s just not the case clearly. I think my mind is made up, but just to be sure I will get quotes and try and get this insurance sorted in the next week before making my final decision. Give him a final few weeks of enjoying being in the field soaking up the sunshine.
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Who now legally owns the horse?
 
As the owner of a horse with CPL I would highly advise against loaning them out to anyone who is not specifically set up or experienced with it. It is a lot of work..a lot of back breaking stuff. With that many missing teeth feeding will also be a lot of management and frankly I doubt any reputable person would willingly take on a horse with so many issues.

As for dental costs, I knew a horse who needed one tooth removed. The quote for this was £1000 for just one tooth as it was accessed and awkward, so although it wouldn’t be a grand a tooth you can expect with that many to be removed you will definitely be looking and a few thousand, not to mention the aftercare costs and the cost of the feed they will likely need due to having so many missing teeth. I don’t even think a vet should be asking a complete novice owner to endure that based on the extreme amount of aftercare and knowledge that will go into it. Many experienced owners would balk at the idea.
 
Unexpectedhorse said:
I never even thought about aftercare, I was told he’d still be able to eat with his back teeth and it wouldn’t be much of an issue. Bit cross now, seems I’ve not been properly informed.
Thanks all for your advice, you’ve given me a lot to think about.
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Follow up vet visits could double the bill for extraction. Follow up costs for a friend for removal of only one were higher than the £600 to extract one front tooth.
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