meleeka
Well-Known Member
Good news! One of our local vets seems to also have a reputation for finding things that aren’t there in horses mouths. At least you know who to avoid now.
Tooth extraction
- Thread starter Bobthecob15
- Start date
Bobthecob15
Well-Known Member
Yup apparently it's the new thing to spend money on
nutjob
Well-Known Member
This happened to me, luckily changing vets resulted in my horse making a miraculous recovery saving me £1000's on pointless filings etc.
Bobthecob15
Well-Known Member
Goodness me it seems to be quite a common thing! Just as well we can get second opinions!
supagran
Well-Known Member
My mare (aged 18) had a rotten molar extracted at the vets, it got infected, was packed several times, I think there were 5 trips to the vets and it cost me £2,500 - and no insurance. More expensive than a private human dentist
Mon G
Member
Hi, I just seen your comment to this post. My gelding has the same symptoms as you have described, he had a tooth removed and the tooth caused a sinus infection (before the tooth was removed) he had the flush out but the yellow snot is still coming out, he is on antibiotics but I was just wondering how long the yellow snot lasted for with your gelding?
Birker2020
Well-Known Member
The vets wanted to charge me between £600 to 2.4K to remove a previous horses tooth!
It was spotted by the horse whisperer who said my horse was begging for a dentist to attend, I told her there was no way I was getting the dentist out when she'd only just had the dentist a few months before. However, I called the EDT the next day as I had great faith in the horse whisperer and low and behold she had a massive crack in a top tooth towards the back with food compacting in there spreading the crack upwards. No signs of eating weirdly, or bad breath. That's when I was quoted the price for tooth extraction between the EDT and the vet.
I was half debating whether to call time on my girl as she was 23 and had other issues and it was a huge amount of money to pay when she was probably nearing the end of her life, but I decided she could go for investigation and take it from there. Apparently at the vets they put pliers on the tooth whilst she was in the stall sedated, the vet then popped over to the cupboard to get more sedative or something, by which time she'd shook her head and the slab fracture had come off. That's hand on heart what I was told by the vet. The whole thing was really strange. The bill wasn't anything near that cost, I think it was around £700 in the end.
I think I would probably have paid the money, whatever the cost, I was just making it known that I wasn't happy.
There was no smell, no head shaking, no reluctant eating carrots or other crunchy treats, no reluctance accepting the bit, eating her hay as normal. But I saw the crack on the tooth and it was very much there.
I was told that horses are incredibly stoic when it comes to teeth.
It was spotted by the horse whisperer who said my horse was begging for a dentist to attend, I told her there was no way I was getting the dentist out when she'd only just had the dentist a few months before. However, I called the EDT the next day as I had great faith in the horse whisperer and low and behold she had a massive crack in a top tooth towards the back with food compacting in there spreading the crack upwards. No signs of eating weirdly, or bad breath. That's when I was quoted the price for tooth extraction between the EDT and the vet.
I was half debating whether to call time on my girl as she was 23 and had other issues and it was a huge amount of money to pay when she was probably nearing the end of her life, but I decided she could go for investigation and take it from there. Apparently at the vets they put pliers on the tooth whilst she was in the stall sedated, the vet then popped over to the cupboard to get more sedative or something, by which time she'd shook her head and the slab fracture had come off. That's hand on heart what I was told by the vet. The whole thing was really strange. The bill wasn't anything near that cost, I think it was around £700 in the end.
I think I would probably have paid the money, whatever the cost, I was just making it known that I wasn't happy.
There was no smell, no head shaking, no reluctant eating carrots or other crunchy treats, no reluctance accepting the bit, eating her hay as normal. But I saw the crack on the tooth and it was very much there.
I was told that horses are incredibly stoic when it comes to teeth.
Goldenstar
Well-Known Member
Horses are really adept at hiding tooth pain .
HappyHollyDays
Slave to 2 cats and 2 ponies
They certainly are. My Connie has just had a perfectly good molar removed due to an abscess. Not a sign he was in any pain or had any discomfort eating, no temperature and no nasal discharge from the sinus. The only clue was a slight facial swelling and a raised lymph node. £1700 later and he’s fine.
Birker2020
Well-Known Member
Can you imagine if a human dentist charged that much? Why is it so different for horses? Are they 'harder'?
HappyHollyDays
Slave to 2 cats and 2 ponies
They probably do
That’s the total bill over 4 weeks so lots of sedation, yard visits, X-rays, specialist dental vet who did the removal, antibiotics, Bute and everything else they bill you for. The actual extraction was £800 which was a bargain as I was quoted anything between £800 and £1500 depending on how difficult it was to remove. Luckily it was straightforward and came out in one piece.
Tiddlypom
Carries on creakily
Last year I paid £1500 in total for two major dental vet visits, plus three follow ons to check and re pack the sockets post extraction.
Dental vet was expecting to fill 109/110, which had previously been noted as needing attention by the non vet EDT. He found more needed doing than that
, namely two dead and infected incisors, which would have been very painful.
There was no doubt about the decay in 109/110, it was clearly visible on both X Ray and the camera.
The external visual signs in 402/403 were more subtle, and the EDT had completely missed them
. It would have been incredibly painful for her. Again very clear to see on X Ray.
Vet dentist did the fillings first, and because they took so long to do and she had then been under standing sedation for two hours he came back another day to do the extractions. Again, they were quite tricky as one tooth broke, but he got it all out in the end.
It has all healed up incredibly well, and the horse is so much more comfortable, bless her. As said, horses can be very stoic about dental pain, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t feel it.
I was the dental nurse, which I was perfectly happy to do. The most nerve wracking part was being the one holding the X-ray plate up high in her mouth whilst being aware of just how that piece of equipment was worth!
Dental vet was expecting to fill 109/110, which had previously been noted as needing attention by the non vet EDT. He found more needed doing than that
, namely two dead and infected incisors, which would have been very painful.There was no doubt about the decay in 109/110, it was clearly visible on both X Ray and the camera.
The external visual signs in 402/403 were more subtle, and the EDT had completely missed them
. It would have been incredibly painful for her. Again very clear to see on X Ray.Vet dentist did the fillings first, and because they took so long to do and she had then been under standing sedation for two hours he came back another day to do the extractions. Again, they were quite tricky as one tooth broke, but he got it all out in the end.
It has all healed up incredibly well, and the horse is so much more comfortable, bless her. As said, horses can be very stoic about dental pain, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t feel it.
I was the dental nurse, which I was perfectly happy to do. The most nerve wracking part was being the one holding the X-ray plate up high in her mouth whilst being aware of just how that piece of equipment was worth!
HappyHollyDays
Slave to 2 cats and 2 ponies
That’s a lot of work TP and some amazing photos, thanks for sharing them. B had 207 out and I couldn’t believe just how deep the roots were. It’s also incredible how quickly they heal afterwards, within three weeks the socket was 90% granulated with just a small V left to fill in.
KatieDM
Member
They’re not far off — £650 for one (1!) crown for me last week
Birker2020
Well-Known Member
I'm NHS thank GodThey’re not far off — £650 for one (1!) crown for me last week
BronsonNutter
Well-Known Member
Given I was quoted £1700 to have my tooth sorted out by a private dentist, I wouldn't necessarily say it's anything different. Ironically it was due to being kicked in the face by a client's horse; the client hasn't paid their (considerably smaller than that) vet bill yet.
Plus horse's teeth (particularly in young horses) are HUGE, so can take ages to take out. And drugs... sedation, more local anaesthetic, pain relief etc which you don't get at the dentists. And the xrays are harder to take and interpret (in my opinion - I don't do advanced equine dentistry and find horse head xrays really confusing, but even I could assess my own teeth on the xray I saw!), plus the £/per use of the equiptment is far more in veterinary. Dentists might bang out 20 sets of dental xrays per day, we'll do 1/2 cases here and there. Last time something bit the xray plate taking incisor radiographs it was £15k to replace... You can tell humans not to bite the film too hard!