teeth - vet or dentist?

[You Wont Forget Me]

dentist Dentist DENTIST!!! No way would i ever use a vet, no matter who it was, to do my horses teeth after i saw the mess of my friends horse's mouth, vets are not fully trained to do horses teeth, yes they can do basics but i would much rather leave it to the fully trained professionals!!

 

[Racergirl]

Im really hoping you lot saying "dentist" really mean an EDT who has been examined and approved by the relevant authorities rather than any old bugger who has done the 2 weeks in america....

 

[tinap]

Always used dentist, then as he was due at same time as jabs, had vet do instead. 4 months later needed doing again so got dentist back, so now always dentist. He's a fab bloke too that comes a fair way to do just 1 pony, not extortionate & never ever late!!

 

[tinap]

Oh & yes I mean an EDT!! xx

 

[Derfette]

For me, it would have to be a dentist. Vets don't have anywhere near the amount of training on teeth as proper dentists and personally I would prefer someone who has been specifically trained in dentistry to check my boy.

 

[Laafet]

I'd have to say vet, but then my vet does all the dental surgery at one of the top Equine Hospitals in Newmarket so IMO that makes him more than qualified to look at teeth.

 

[GabrielleStar]

Dentist every time! A vet cant be a specialist in everything, like it has been said you wouldn't let a GP do a filling.

A lady on my yard has has the vet do her horses teeth for years and then had my dentist for a one off check. He said the molars furthest back have never been touched by a rasp! there was scar tissue all on the inside of his mouth from where the molars were like razors. She was shocked, assuming her vet had done an adequate job all this time.

Make sure they are fully qualified and registered!

 

[FionaM12]

I'm very glad of this thread! My mare, Mollie, who I bought two months ago is 17 years old and shakes her head a lot when ridden. I want to get her teeth checked but had no idea where to start so I was going to call the vet.

Since reading this, I've checked the BAEDT list and sent an email to someone called Mark Thorne. He seems to cover my area (NorthWest). Anyone know of him? I just picked him off the list online as he seems to be a founding member of BAEDT.

I must admit what swayed me was the GP/dentist arguement a few have put forward.

Thanks everyone!

 

[ebonyallen]

I think it all depends on the vet or dentist. Theres good and bad in both. We had a well respected dentist do the whole yard and the whole yard had to get vets out to try to put right what the dentist had done.
Ive had 2 vets do mine from the same practice, one was better than the other.

I agree had a bad experience with Dentist and now the vet does a very good job, but good and bad in both of them

 

[Milla]

I'd choose dentist hands down...the vet once did one of the horses teeth as it was struggling to eat...it now struggles to eat even more so survives on grass and 3buckets of feed a day, and still is left underweight, the owner has a massive battle with her constantly. and we have never had a problem with our dentist, he does such a good job with our horses!

 

[unbalanced]

I used the dentist last year as he was at the yard doing a large group of horses. She started to 'get upset' (how I would describe it, although I wasn't there, and I have heard this from 3 people) or 'play up' in his words. I had left a message that I wanted her sedated if she was anything less than 100% as the vet was there anyway. Despite only having a 14 year old girl to hold her in the stable with him, he decided to be macho, and refused to have the horse sedated because he could handle it. In the end she reared three times and sat down on her banks. Three separate people told me HE HIT MY HORSE and my horse's reaction corroborates this. She became quite headshy for a few weeks after this incident.

When I had the vet recheck her teeth just three months later as she wasn't right to ride she noticed that only the front teeth had been filed down. The back teeth were still sharp and interestingly there was a broken tooth which he had missed altogether. I was happy with how the vet did it because she sedated her and did it quietly with no trouble. She also encouraged me to check her teeth for myself afterwards and showed me what she had done and the broken tooth which we are just monitoring for the moment. The vet knows her limitations and says that when we remove it she will bring a dentist that she likes to work with - she will do the sedation and pain relief and the dentist will do the tooth removal.

Now, my dentist comes very heavily recommended by my yard and I can't say too much against him because it gets me in trouble. Generally when the posters go up reminding people he is coming and new people put their names down I gently suggest that they should be there. However, having read this thread, I just looked at the BAEDT website to see who was a member and who wasn't. I wasn't expecting my vet to be a member (she is a lameness specialist as well as a general practitioner and who has time to have more than one specialist?) and she isn't. Also what a surprise, the dentist that comes to my yard, so highly regarded, is also not on the list. I will be sticking with the vet in future who, as she said, will have a properly qualified EDT assist with complex things and she will just do rasping. Her horsemanship is so much better and at least I know that my horse knows her and will not be hurt or upset by the experience.

 

[Victoria25]

I used my vet - see post from last week ... brill results and he knows me/my horses so even better

 

[brighteyes]

Im really hoping you lot saying "dentist" really mean an EDT who has been examined and approved by the relevant authorities rather than any old bugger who has done the 2 weeks in america....

BIG can of worms here!

Notwithstanding the fact some of the best training in the world is in the States, how do you think anyone actually begins treating horses and working their way along the path to BEVA examination success and BAEDT 'accreditation' and membership?

Training in the UK is so unregulated and unstructured it relies on the existing network of EDT's (and there is a huge variation in proficiency within the qualified ranks) to take on an apprentice and for that apprentice to finance the training and, without question, get themselves over to one of the approved Dental Academies for as long as money and time will allow.

To become fully informed, do some research on The Internet.

Over there, the vet/EDT divide isn't quite so 'political', for want of a better word. Vets in the US have recognised the benefits of having a specialist in this particular part of a horse, so their veterinary expertise can then more keenly directed to the inner workings and biomechanics of the rest of it.

I have a vested interest in this subject and don't pretend otherwise, but although is it a completely valid statement in essence,

any old bugger who has done the 2 weeks in america....

might not be the worst place to start looking, if the advice they can give just from an examination is useful and correct. I'll qualify it by saying it's a marvellous idea to have that advice backed up by a BAEDT member!

Who you allow to treat your horse still remains your choice, but again Google is your friend

 

[VictoriaEDT]

FionaM12 - Mark Thorne is v v good!