TOOTH EXTRACTION

pinktiger

pinktiger

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Hi there all, i have a young horse that has a tooth root infection which isn't clearing up with anti'bs, my vet has suggested that the offending tooth may need taking out!!!! sounds very scary to me as i believed the teeth kept each other in place
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Does anybody have any experience with this and how does it affect the horses mouth and teeth alignment??
 
Yes i do!!!! My old pony got kicked and broke his jaw. He recovered ( or so we thought ) but a year later he got a bad infection in his mouth. It turned out that when he broke his jaw a little infection had stayed in his mouth and gradually rotted away the roots of one of his molars at the back on his bottom jaw. He had surgery to remove this tooth. Tnis involved him being knocked out and the tooth pulled out from the inside AND knocked out from the outside ( i will not go into too much detail as it wasnt nice ) After the surgery he had a hole all the was through his jaw that had to have a drain put in whilst it healed. Despite having what i can only describe as horriffic surgery he was eating a short after recovery. It healed well but he did have problems with his teeth. the main reason was when he was kicked it knocked his bottom jaw slightly sideways. After having the tooth out, the top molar has nothing to grind on so it grows longer. Simon had to have his teeth rasped every 3 months to combat this.
 
My old horse had two teeth out...one had fractured down the middle and spread like a flower outwards in her mouth...they removed its neighbour because it had died.

Both teeth were on the top jawbone so they had to go in through her face, through her sinus and tap them out from that side. They found a huge cyst in her sinus when they opened it up but it was removed intact so there was no residual infection.

Post op she had a tube in the top of her head which was flushed out every day for about a week...it was removed before I collected her. They also plugged the holes where the teeth were removed with fake plaster of paris teeth so that the sinus had a chance to heal.

About two months later after a hack she became hysterical with her head and it was really worrying. I thought she was going to bolt while I tried to get her tack off and get her into the lorry. I noticed that her mouth was white....it occurred to me that one or both the fake teeth had broken away. She was fine after a while.

The worst thing about all of it is that the op was done in December and she was mostly tb and it was always difficult to keep condition on her during the winter. Because of the op and the post op pain/difficulty eating she dropped off so quickly and looked like a skinned rabbit all winter....I was so ashamed of the way she looked...it was awful.
 
Hi

I have had 2 horses with differnet needs for tooth extraction

My then 5year old TBx always had a problem with spitting out food since I bought him as a 4 year old - after getting referred to another vet they recommended he get a bottom back tooth out as the food was pakcing in the gap (diastema= gap between the teeth) that is was more or less rotting his gum. He was heavily sedated and put in a cattle crush type device and 2 vets removed it as he stood. it was 4.5 inches long and think the procedure was lengthy. He got home the next day and was fine ever since. He has to get rasped more frequently that the others but that is a little price to pay for a happy horse.

My other horse, a 10 yo WB got a kick from another horse. He broke two front incisors. He had to go to the Dick vet in Edinburgh and get a filling and the other removed. He also just got sedated and coped v well with it.

For both mine it was a real worry so I appreciate what you are going through - but dont stress about it. its not as bad as you think and they cope v well. They were ridden a couple of days after the procdure with no problems. The only disadvantage is the need for more routine maintenace from dentist

i hope this puts your mind at rest
 
Thankyou for the reply i feel less stressed now as i was thinking all kinds!! dont have any problem with more reg dentist visits!!! This horse is rising 3 and has been through so much already he's just recovering from a tieback op. Feel sorry for him the pain from the infection must be awful, thankfully it has not stopped him eating, just perhaps at the rate he would normally scoff!!! many many thanx
 
My boy was 4 when he had to have a molar tooth removed. We lwft it as long as possible treating with antibiotics and trephines as the vet said it would be difficult to remove with him being 4 (longer roots) First they tried to remove it under sedation but it fractured so he had a GA and they took a bone flap from his face and knocked the tooth from the outside in. He recovered well from the GA and he had a plug/false tooth put in that was suppose to come out in about 4 to 6 weeks but it didnt and for fear of infection he had it removed under sedation. The bone flap was stapled back on and he does have a slight indentation where this was. He look like frankenstein and I was worried it would all cave in! He had a trephine in his upper sinus for 3 weeks after that was flushed daily. All was well for 6 mths then the awful nasal discharge started again so he was treated with more antibiotics. This has flared up since but touch wood settles on its own within a week or so. His tooth was removed 3 yrs ago! He has his teeth mechanically rasped every 6 mths or so as theres nothing for it to wear down on. This was done the other day and my vet said his teeth had moved slightly, the gap now not as wide. Stupid me didnt ask what the implications of this were, so if anyone knows, please let me know.
Good luck with your horse, it was awful at the time but my horse didnt seem to notice and ate well throughout.
 
not much really I can add to this as everyone seems to have done a spot on job!

Extractions usually take place in the following ways:
- Orally: depending on the age (Younger=longer roots so difficult to remove)
-Repulsion: aims to remove the bone directly over the apex of the diseased tooth and driving it into the mouth with a punch
-buccotomy: Involves an incision through the cheek to avoid extraction of the wrong tooth or damage to the neighbouring tooth. This procedure can only be used on the first 3 cheek teeth (pre molars) due to the possition of the masseter (large cheek muscle used for chewing).
or....endodontics - root canal therapy.
yes, in an ideal world we try everything possible to save cheek teeth as removal of the does disrupt the integrity of the quadrant (row of teeth) especially if the tooth is situated in the centre of the quadrant. Then there will be 6 monthly monitoring of the opposing tooth (which your EDT will do) to ensure it does not hypererupt into the cavity.
Hope all goes well with your boy/girl x
 
just spoke to my vet and asked about the alignment of the teeth re missing tooth, he said in young horses the teeth move into the space and cause little or no problems at all, just will need good reg dental checks for rasping etc.
 
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