Diastema

[fidleyspromise]

19 year old Tilly was diagnosed with COPD earlier this year so no more hay.

She has had her teeth done 6 monthly the past few years due to a few diastemas. The last time she was done was August and unusually she was quidding after. She is still quidding but its getting worse.
I put a full bag of Silvermoor Timothy haylage out last night and she's barely touched it.

I'm waiting on the vet calling me back this afternoon to discuss options as I know we spoke about something for the future but I can't remember what. I think it was widening the gaps.

Has anyone had anything done with diastemas and if so what was the approximate cost? How was the horse after?

Thanks.

 

[QuantockHills]

cant remember the cost as it was many years ago... a couple of hundred I think? It was done at Weston Counties vet hospital on the Somerset / Devon border. My horse always had tooth problems and was always getting food stuck and quidding.. dentist every 2-3 months. he then recommended having the diastema gap widened and it made a huge difference and really helped. he also recommended training the horse to accept having a hose pipe in its mouth so you could flush the teeth regularly. mine loved it and would regularly grab the hosepipe and spray you back! good luck. x

 

[Pinkvboots]

I don't know the cost but having the gaps made wider made a huge difference to a friend's horse eats completely normally now.

 

[fidleyspromise]

Thank you both. I've been thinking £0000s per gap and near hyperventilating.
Great news regarding horses eating normally again too.

 

[maddielove]

My mare had diastemas widened a couple of years ago aged 9, I think she had two done and I think I was about £250 if I remember right, that included an overnight stay at the vets. I am in NE Scotland
She gets her teeth done 6 monthly to keep an eye, she's never quidded or shown much obvious signs that there was an issue.

 

[fidleyspromise]

My mare had diastemas widened a couple of years ago aged 9, I think she had two done and I think I was about £250 if I remember right, that included an overnight stay at the vets. I am in NE Scotland
She gets her teeth done 6 monthly to keep an eye, she's never quidded or shown much obvious signs that there was an issue.

Thanks. Chances are you used one of the 2 vet centres that were mentioned to me. Glad your mare had no further issues.
My mare has about 6 gaps.

 

[maddielove]

Thanks. Chances are you used one of the 2 vet centres that were mentioned to me. Glad your mare had no further issues.
My mare has about 6 gaps.

Dukes are our vets and Jim himself did the widening, would thoroughly recommend. I know Ardene have a good reputation with teeth too.

 

[minesadouble]

I have 2 horses with this issue. The vet cleaned the gaps out and inserted a substance that looked like putty texture, he said it hardens up, though not solid and anticipated it would last a few months before falling out. It lasted much longer and made a massive difference to quidding. Might be worth looking into.

 

[Annagain]

My vet-dentist (she teaches the post grad equine dentistry for vets course at Liverpool uni) says you need to be incredibly careful about widening diastemas as it can cause more harm than good if not done properly. Monty had one widened before we started using her and it made things worse for him. Done properly, it can be very helpful but make sure you have a properly trained dental vet to do it.

 

[GoldenWillow]

I don't have much experience with diastema, although a friends pony does and manages well on haylage, but both my cob who is a typical loves his food cob, and shetland won't eat Timothy haylage. I have tried quite a few different bales and they won't touch any of it.

 

[fidleyspromise]

Thank you everyone.
She has 4 diastemas - 2 that are bigger issue than the other 2 plus one of her very back teeth are hollow.
The food has all been cleaned out of them. There was the same amount there was 2 months ago.

She is still quidding a little but nothing like she was. Hay is being soaked and consumed in decent amounts daily so it's a case of keep a close eye on her and any issues the vet is happy to chat.

Thank you all for helping keep me sane as hearing others experiences is a massive help.

 

[LEC]

My horse dentist - who is very good put the fear in us saying the horse needed specialist dental intervention at the vet hospital which could be up to £3500. In the end I got a vet who specialised in dental to do the work at home under sedation and it cost a few hundred instead. The vet widened some gaps, changed some of the edges and angles and it worked. We then got that vet to continue doing the work and the horse now has pretty much normal teeth. We still never feed her chaff as were advised against it.

 

[Bellaboo18]

Just looked my invoice up from last year, it was £346 to widen one diastema. She can still eat hay but could before the procedure as well. She's definitely comfier now though.
Worth shopping around, one hospital wanted to remove the tooth and quoted a starting price of £1500, they actually cancelled the appointment due to emergency colics so I went elsewhere (thank goodness!). I'm glad she got to keep the tooth and I saved a lot of money
ETA she has 4 diastemas but only one needed widening.

 

[fidleyspromise]

Update:
We managed as we were and had a referral in March for The Dental Clinic.
Tilly had one big diastema at 110/111 that was widened and resin putty put in.
The other diastemas were widened.

She was to have a check up in 3 months and no hay/haylage until then. She was seen in Aug. The putty had fallen out and diastemas all widened further, putty put in and some other putty put into the other diastemas as they had peridontal pockets.

This has cost >£800 each time and they want to see her every 3 months which I cannot afford.

I gave her hay today and she's quidding lots so my plan going forward is: winter is going to be mash feeds and my vet will come out to her every 3 months to clean the diastemas.

 

[Highmileagecob]

I am approaching this situation with my old cob. He has started quidding, and lost weight last winter. This year I have tried Silvermoor Veteran Haylage, which is like a haylage version of Happy Hoof. He manages that much better and is holding weight. Fingers crossed.

 

[fidleyspromise]

I am approaching this situation with my old cob. He has started quidding, and lost weight last winter. This year I have tried Silvermoor Veteran Haylage, which is like a haylage version of Happy Hoof. He manages that much better and is holding weight. Fingers crossed.

Hope you get on fine with it. I might give it another shot but my mare wasn't keen last year.