What is it with some vets doing teeth?

[Bosworth]

to be honest the quality of some of the equine dental treatment out there is appalling - and the worst in many cases are the vets who allegedly know what they are doing and don't. We had a mare come her on livery who was quidding so badly she was eating less than 20% of what she was given. It was just falling in piles outside her stable. Allegedly her teeth were fine as her previous vet had done them 2 months before. The owners are novices but have been advised by vets all the way through. I insisted on my dentist seeing them and basically her teeth were deformed. Sticking at all angles. feed was stuck in gaping holes and couldn't come out. It was festering and she had gingivitus. The same vet had been treating this mare as a headshaker and never thought that that could be caused by her mouth. My dentist and vet insisted that the mare needed immediate surgery. She had 2 molars out, and some serious dental work. She needs more surgery to remove one more tooth. but amazingly she is now a cured headshaker and no longer quids at all. The owners had been doing the right thing in getting her teeth checked. But the vet was truly useless he had no idea about teeth. He had been doing this mares teeth for about 4 years. The foul stench when I opened her mouth should have warned him something pretty serious was going on. Luckily THe mare has been caught in time to prevent her getting infection in her jawbone and she should be fine as long as her teeth are done every 6 months from now on - by a good dentist.

 

[loopeepee]

Vet's I did some work for were called out for dental work. Likewise it has always been my vet who has done my horses teeth. I've luckily never had a problems.
Poor horse you have talked about though - luckily you managed to get to the root (lol) of the problem in time.

 

[katie_southwest]

Oh goodness thats horrible! My mare is done by an EDT - always has been, not that I wouldnt trust my vet, but I would just much rather her teeth done by an actual dentist

 

[Flame_]

ITA. It just shows you can't trust the experts just because they've got qualifications to their name. Good on you for knowing what needed to be done and finding the best person to do it. It annoys me so much when "experts" take money off trusting novices trying to do the best for their horses, but then don't do the job.

Glad the mare's now comfortable.

 

[kerilli]

bosworth, i think you should report the vet. that is disgusting, poor horse, poor owners. no excuse for that kind of total shoddyness, doesn't sound as if it was a minor problem or difficult to detect!
i agree, i'll never let a vet do my horses' teeth again. qualified and trusted EDTs all the way.
after all, I don't go to my doctor to get MY teeth checked!

 

[Bosworth]

I have a friend who is a very good vet - I would trust him completely but he freely admits he has no idea about teeth other than a basic grasp so he always refers clients to an EDT. We have another very well respected local vet who always does teeth - but I have never yet seen him put a gag on and work at the back. In all cases the horses he has done that I have seen have required EdT work in less than 3 months as the back teeth were sharp.

 

[251libby]

I have my vet do my horses teeth because it's the only thing she needs sedating for and he has a rep for being a good dentist

 

[Bosworth]

My Vet is fantastic with teeth - because he has gone on and done significant training in teeth. So I know he is good. Also he treats one of my horses who has to be heavily sedated to be treated. But all the other horses are treated by an EDT who is brilliant. She encourages owners to watch and learn. She insists they check her work by putting their hands inside. there is nothing to hide you are shown everything. the same with my vet. I know I can trust him totally. But others seem to have no idea and still keep taking money off naive people.

 

[HelsB]

My horse suddenly stopped being able to eat (not through want of trying!) and it was a Sunday so I had to call the vet - they sent a locum who checked and could not find anything wrong AND LEFT WITH HORSE STILL UNABLE TO EAT!!!

Called the dentist who came out first thing in the morning, in the meantime fed horse soaked fibre nuts which he could manage

Dentist found broken molar digging hin his cheek!! Totally missed my vet even though I kept insisting he check again!! Problem was that he seemed unsure of how to fit the gag & scared of putting his hand in horses mouth!

I did call my usual (trusted) vet to suggest some further training for the other guy! And he wiped the bill

 

[spaniel]

I suspect most vet students get an afternoons dental lecture as part of their training and thats about it.

I certainly wouldnt let a vet, no matter how well respected, muck about in my horses mouth! Im not about to let my GP do root canal work on me!!!!

 

[charlie55]

I used an equine dentist that was ment to be very good for my old boy last year, he was quidding quite bad, she came out and done some rasping and said she had taken off sharp edges, from then on he stopped eating!!
Called vedt out and she had filled off all the rough edges ON TOP of his teeth!! Silly girl!!! He couldnt grind as hes teeth were smooth... 2 months before he could eat hay again, not good for a 29 year old!! He didnt have many teeth left as it is.

For my new boy, i have to use the vet because he needs to be knocked out, but this certain vet is a specialist on teeth so its fine x

 

[Donkeymad]

That's why I always recommend getting an EDT rather than a vet for teeth. Some vets have done some extra training in dentistry and are good, but the majority are very mediocre, or worse.

Poor people and poor ned, they did what they thought was right for their horse.