Teeth ......vet or dentist ??

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mummymole

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Our 8 yr old seems to have high maintenance teeth .We are having him rasped 3 monthly and they are always well in need of it .We do a lot of dressage and as a rule he goes very nicely with lot's of wins so i cant complain but as soon as his teeth are remotely in need of attention he gets really gobby .His teeth have always been done by my vet since he was 3 as he can be a handful so this seemed a better option in case he needed sedation .He is fine just a little fidgety so in september when he needed doing we decided to sedate him and give him a really through rasping without him walking around his stable everynow and then and being difficult .He was great after this and vet said should last a good 6 months ......December ( 3months ) he was gobby again and when vet looked said he would have thought he hadn't been looked at in over a year !!Apparently this will be good in later life ...My dilemma is he is still uncomfortable in his mouth or head and he was done 3 wks ago . Now i'm wondering if i need a dentist and something more specific like maybe a bit seat done . He has a fleshy mouth and a big tongue but can be very wayward.He is normally ridden in a sweet iron loose ring lozenge but when he is strong we use a little french link .He has been in a drop noseband for past year but suddenly seems to be difficult in it so changed to a flash and whilst his outline is better there is a lot of head tilt which we have never had . Can't just use a cavesson as he does cross his jaw and pop his tongue over bit .The flash noseband is a crank fastening and i keep looking at it thinking it affects the line from bit to hand as so padded ? Any ideas
 
mummymole said:
Our 8 yr old seems to have high maintenance teeth .We are having him rasped 3 monthly and they are always well in need of it .We do a lot of dressage and as a rule he goes very nicely with lot's of wins so i cant complain but as soon as his teeth are remotely in need of attention he gets really gobby .His teeth have always been done by my vet since he was 3 as he can be a handful so this seemed a better option in case he needed sedation .He is fine just a little fidgety so in september when he needed doing we decided to sedate him and give him a really through rasping without him walking around his stable everynow and then and being difficult .He was great after this and vet said should last a good 6 months ......December ( 3months ) he was gobby again and when vet looked said he would have thought he hadn't been looked at in over a year !!Apparently this will be good in later life ...My dilemma is he is still uncomfortable in his mouth or head and he was done 3 wks ago . Now i'm wondering if i need a dentist and something more specific like maybe a bit seat done . He has a fleshy mouth and a big tongue but can be very wayward.He is normally ridden in a sweet iron loose ring lozenge but when he is strong we use a little french link .He has been in a drop noseband for past year but suddenly seems to be difficult in it so changed to a flash and whilst his outline is better there is a lot of head tilt which we have never had . Can't just use a cavesson as he does cross his jaw and pop his tongue over bit .The flash noseband is a crank fastening and i keep looking at it thinking it affects the line from bit to hand as so padded ? Any ideas
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It wouldn't hurt to have an EDT look at him, although if he ends up needing sedating you have to be willing to pay for vet to be present as well. You could ask around and see who is recommended in your area - you might even be lucky enough to be in an area where there is a vet who is also a qualified EDT. The practice I use has two, so we get the best of both worlds!
 
EDT every time. The dentist is the best person. The vet came out to do my horse without a gag, and the horse played up by lifting his head, with the vet hanging on to his mouth. Eventually the vet only did one side and left the other side. Weeks later the horse was eating from teh one side of his mouth in obvious pain, as a result from the half done job by the vet.

Never have a vet again for his teeth.
 
I have used my vet in the past as my boy had to be sedated, but the last time he did him, I was not convinced that he had done a good job as my boy kept spitting out hay and seemed to have trouble chewing it and he is not an old horse!
So I got a horse dentist in who also does a lot of natural horsemanship, very calm way about him and he managed to do him without sedation and he found some problems that the vet had missed!!!!!
 
EDT every time. My dentist is always being asked by vets to do teeth because they struggle with anything that is not 100% standard.
 
Tnavas said:
Always, always dentist - vets just don't do enough teeth to do the job truly right.
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Not strictly true - my (equine) vet has done the EDT training and is very good - and as a vet he has access to sedation etc. if required. And as a bonus he doesn't charge as much. It very much depends on the individual and the situation - so long as horse is okay with it I would have a good EDT over a not so good vet or vice versa.
 
If a horse needs attention to his teeth 3 monthly I would be suspicious there is something not quite right in his mouth and be looking to have further investigation/second opinion. I've always had good experiences with EDT, many work very closely with vets and most are so good that even horses that used to need sedation for rasping behave fine with an EDT. Your vet must realise such frequent rasping is not normal and I'd be surprised if he would have any objection to getting a EDT to have a look.
 
JillA said:
Not strictly true - my (equine) vet has done the EDT training and is very good - and as a vet he has access to sedation etc. if required. And as a bonus he doesn't charge as much. It very much depends on the individual and the situation - so long as horse is okay with it I would have a good EDT over a not so good vet or vice versa.
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Your vet is a rarity but will still not have or get the experience that an Equine Dentist will get.

I have seen THREE different vets - one who was also trained as an Equine Dentist totally screw up my horses teeth

First instance - I was spending the day with my vet and first patient was a young horse with bitting problems - vet decided to leave the wolf teeth in - unfortunately I couldn't say anything as the owner was there - vet is not a rider and therefore didn't see any reason for the teeth to come out.

Second instance - the horse I had recently bought appeared to have trouble eating hay and long grass - dentist was called in - he doesn't use a gag, works by feel. No improvement so took horse to vet for scoping - vet didn't see any problem. Moved me and horses way out of the area and had the yard dentist look at the horse - on went the gag and when he looked into the horses mouth there at the back were hooks growing into the roof of the horses mouth. After an hour of torture (for me that was as the sound of the drill and the smell had me in a cold sweat - dental phobic I am!) the hooks were ground off and the horse never looked back - ate everything and able to swallow it.

Third instance - Booked horse in for the local vet (attended dental training) to do youngsters and mares teeth - firstly she took forever to remove the youngsters wolf teeth claimed they were very large - when they finally came out they were normal size - she just had insufficient experience/practice at removing wolf teeth. Then took forever to rasp the rest of his teeth. Then onto the mare who as usual was very obliging - little or no improvement in her mouth behaviour. Six months down the track got the Equine Dentist in - he spotted her problem immediately - she has a bottom molar that is wider than normal and the vet had only rasped the inner edge as per normal and had failed to notice the sharp edge on the outside, ED said growth was at least 12 - 18 months old. Once this was removed mare was lovely in the mouth - no resistance at all.

Here we see three examples of vets with insufficient experience/knowledge working on teeth.

It may be easier to have the vet because he can sedate the horse but if you have a good Equine dentist he will generally manage to do the teeth without sedation - again experience, and confidence in his ability to do the teeth.

I am now totally against any vet doing my horses teeth - after all you don't go to your doctor to have your teeth looked at - you go to a specialist - your dentist!
 
EDT every time, my vet grabbed my horses tongue, worked with one, the other fought him like a demon, EDT came out, tried with this horse, who wasn't happy, suggested sedation, vet came out, horse ended up fighting the sedation and going down in the stable, where the EDT finished the job, horses teeth are like the north sea in a gale, causing head nodding, (now stopped) EDT thinks horse has had a terrible experience in the past, hence the fighting and is prepared to work with the horse to ease his fears
 
Yep out of three vet raspings only one actually removed the hooks, and my boy was making a lot of noise [in protest] while the EDT did him he was really quiet and calm, I gave him a bit of Sedalin the first time, but it was not necessary.
One vet actually shoved him back in to a corner ......... very dangerous imho as a resistant horse would have jumped on top of her and her student, I hope to goodness the student learns how to handle horses before practicing"
 
Tnavas said:
Your vet is a rarity but will still not have or get the experience that an Equine Dentist will get.

I have seen THREE different vets - one who was also trained as an Equine Dentist totally screw up my horses teeth

First instance - I was spending the day with my vet and first patient was a young horse with bitting problems - vet decided to leave the wolf teeth in - unfortunately I couldn't say anything as the owner was there - vet is not a rider and therefore didn't see any reason for the teeth to come out.

Second instance - the horse I had recently bought appeared to have trouble eating hay and long grass - dentist was called in - he doesn't use a gag, works by feel. No improvement so took horse to vet for scoping - vet didn't see any problem. Moved me and horses way out of the area and had the yard dentist look at the horse - on went the gag and when he looked into the horses mouth there at the back were hooks growing into the roof of the horses mouth. After an hour of torture (for me that was as the sound of the drill and the smell had me in a cold sweat - dental phobic I am!) the hooks were ground off and the horse never looked back - ate everything and able to swallow it.

Third instance - Booked horse in for the local vet (attended dental training) to do youngsters and mares teeth - firstly she took forever to remove the youngsters wolf teeth claimed they were very large - when they finally came out they were normal size - she just had insufficient experience/practice at removing wolf teeth. Then took forever to rasp the rest of his teeth. Then onto the mare who as usual was very obliging - little or no improvement in her mouth behaviour. Six months down the track got the Equine Dentist in - he spotted her problem immediately - she has a bottom molar that is wider than normal and the vet had only rasped the inner edge as per normal and had failed to notice the sharp edge on the outside, ED said growth was at least 12 - 18 months old. Once this was removed mare was lovely in the mouth - no resistance at all.

Here we see three examples of vets with insufficient experience/knowledge working on teeth.

It may be easier to have the vet because he can sedate the horse but if you have a good Equine dentist he will generally manage to do the teeth without sedation - again experience, and confidence in his ability to do the teeth.

I am now totally against any vet doing my horses teeth - after all you don't go to your doctor to have your teeth looked at - you go to a specialist - your dentist!
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I do fully appreciate that there are some vets that do teeth that cannot / are not able to do the job, or don't do it enough to do the job properly. But don't disregard all vets with EDT training. My vet does my horses teeth, and does an excellent job. He is quiet calm and is a true horseman through and through - in addition to this he is a brilliant person to be able to speak to while he is doing teeth, as he he has such an incredible array of knowledge to impart.

As I say, I do fully agree that there are plenty of vets that are not capable of the job. But equally there are maybe bad EDT's out there too? Or even worse, the EDTs that are advertising themselves as that without qualifications?
 
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