Had dentist on Friday - electric rasp !!!

Our regular dentist uses his usual tools. But when one horse needs special treatment/sedating the vet is called.

Bless her she often gets a fair sized audience - last time she had fifteen of us watching fascinated as she ran the electric rasp over a very nervous horses teeth without sedation :D
 
ladyt25 said:
Had my horses done by a new (to me) and recommended dentist a couple of months back. They have never had one used on them before but none needed sedation - even my youngster who kicked up a fuss with previous dentist. Dentist let me touch the rasp when on, just had it on my finger - it wasn't harsh as far as I could tell.
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Ditto this - I've had it demonstrated on EDT's hand before, they're not harsh on soft tissue.

I'm happy to have (and have had) power or manual, makes no odds tbh.
 
I have had both a vet and an EDT do my horses teeth and I far prefer the EDT and how she does it.

Vets do not spend a long time learning how to do teeth and, having used the vet in the past, decided that an EDT was more sensible. After all they do train specifically to do the job.

Both vet and EDT used electric drill and handheld rasp. All the horses have been fine with it. Thinking about it, I prefer the electric drill because it gets the job done quicker and there is no sawing backwards and forwards as there is with a handheld rasp.
 
carolineb said:
I have had both a vet and an EDT do my horses teeth and I far prefer the EDT and how she does it.

Vets do not spend a long time learning how to do teeth and, having used the vet in the past, decided that an EDT was more sensible. After all they do train specifically to do the job.

Both vet and EDT used electric drill and handheld rasp. All the horses have been fine with it. Thinking about it, I prefer the electric drill because it gets the job done quicker and there is no sawing backwards and forwards as there is with a handheld rasp.
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It depends on the vet a lot of vets have done extensive dentistry training now.
My vet uses both normal and powered tools depending on what's needed .
 
My vet uses both depending on what's required, which is the approach I prefer. Both of mine need sedating for teeth work whether manual or electric and the electric rasp enables a lot less sedation to be used. Since my horses need theirs doing every 6 months I prefer this.

Its nothing like a black and decker drill they are using in our case!!! If I am happy with my own dentist using an electric drill then as long as I'm happy with the skills of the dentistry of the person, I'm not sure why I would have an issue with an electric drill for the horses.....
 
FfionWinnie- I use James Spy; can't recommend him enough!

Over the years I've used other EDTs and equine vets but James not only does the best job in my eyes but most importantly in my horse's.
 
My vet has also had extensive dentistry training and uses both hand and electric depending on need. I used to use an EDT. He was good but just as handy to have vet. The first time mine had the electric done I asked if tranq would be needed. He said for who you? The horses will be fine. And they were.

Terri
 
I have just read through this thread and I think first thing to say is; before you (three or four posters with frankly some ridiculous and laughable comments) start advising and making sweeping statements, get your facts straight. It makes me so angry reading these really...

Electric rasps/power floats - seriously guys,an edt doesn't go out, buy a black and decker "drill" and then start drilling into horses teeth. Come on? You should be aware that these sort of statements are not only WRONG but they frighten and mislead new or novice horse owners.

A lot of edt's use a battery (or sometimes mains powered) electric rasp. It's a little like a spinning emery board that buffs the points down. Used properly, in my opinion they give a good finished job, are much more tissue friendly (yes you can hold it against your skin) and makes it a less jarring experience for most horses. These electric rasps have been designed for equine dentistry - not putting up shelves, trimming hooves or blending a smoothie!!

Damage can be done with manual and power alike. Too much can be done but only in the wrong hands; it's not the tools that would be the problem in that case. But the operator.

I urge hirse owners to take some time to educate themselves about the dentistry industry (and where we are with it today) NOT 20 yrs ago! There are people that spend a lot of time researching ways to improve equine dentistry both in terms of physically practicing and the industry structure... I agree the equine dentistry world can also be confusing and occasionally misleading. Who do you use? Trust? Which association would you want your edt to be affiliated with?

I am not patronising or chastising anyone - I just can't bare to keep quiet when I read untrue and silly statements on a forum that is here to help people as a community. I love h&h and have found many helpful people on here who have shared experiences and in turn given me ideas or support or advice.

There are many factors involved in choosing an edt (or vet) for dentistry; and many factors involved in deciding what treatment is undertaken. But we all want the same result - a comfortable and functional and healthy mouth (leading onto improving other areas in the animal).

I have rambled (v hard typing on ipad isn't it?!) but I'm sure someone will hopefully grasp what I am saying.

I also hope that there will be some clearer information made easily available for horse owners on dentistry very soon.

Healthy debate is good! But let's try and stick to facts not rumours and half truths :))

Peace!!
 
It was more a wow thing... I did actually ask my vets who they would recommend after an episode of choke, (giving them the opportunity to sell themselves) but they suggested the chap I was planning to contact anyway.

I was just blissfully unaware times had moved on so :)
 
I would never let a power rasp be used on any of my horses. I take the EDT's advice and rebook the horses for the duration he recommends - sometimes 6 months some are 9 months and he never has a problem filing by hand.

There was a thread on here some time ago by a lady whose horse was crippled via a dentistry power tool. Obviously you get good and bad in all things, but her poor horse went through hell. That said I had a dentist using manual tools completely unbalance my horse's teeth. It wasn't until a very competent dentist took a look that we realised the previous dentist has simply worked on the one side (the horse's good side and where he also behaved) - thereby compounding the problems he had.

Here is that thread I mentionned:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=423391&highlight=power+tools+dental

and another with a power tool injury

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=487026&highlight=dentist+power+tools
 
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I need to book my new boy in to have his teeth done and its absolutley fills me with dread :(
I was present when my loan mare had her teeth rasped manually in January and it was scary but she behaved very well and my vet was so lovely.

With my new boy, he is a total whimp and at 17h I'm worried he is going to go nuts and do something stupid :(

I know it has to be done and I know im probably scaring myself but im just really wound up about this at the moment :o
 
Please also be aware it is illegal for an edt to use power tools if hey haven't passed the beva exams and will invalidate insurance should any problems arise as a result of improper use. You can check out what edt's can and can't do on the beva website. It would probably come as a surprise to many that even edt's who have passed the exams aren't allowed to extract even wolf teeth unless under continuous veterinary supervision.
 
Any tool is only as good as the ( hopefully qualified!) person using them.

I too know of horses seriously injured by power tools (vet) but also by manual rasping (vet and EDTs) then there are those who've been misdiagnosed or things missed by the experts.

At the end of the day it's the owners job to educate themselves as much as possible regarding what qualifications and experience is required, what to expect and so on. Not only for mouth care but feeding, management, foot care, saddle fitting etc It is a learning curve, I've certainly used ' experts' in various things that I wouldn't ever use again, but continuing to educate ourselves and not believing everything we hear/ read should be the aim IMO.
 
Antw23uk said:
I need to book my new boy in to have his teeth done and its absolutley fills me with dread :(
I was present when my loan mare had her teeth rasped manually in January and it was scary but she behaved very well and my vet was so lovely.

With my new boy, he is a total whimp and at 17h I'm worried he is going to go nuts and do something stupid :(

I know it has to be done and I know im probably scaring myself but im just really wound up about this at the moment :o
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Who are you going to use? You're not far from me in the grand scheme. :D
 
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