Why I will now always use a Vet for dental work.

Yes the headtorch costs little but all the rest of the equipment he had brought and has access to costs thousands, he can also prescribe and give antibiotics as well as sedation.
I have only once used an EDT, mainly because he was doing the rest of the yard and I was not impressed. Whilist the OP son may practice to the highest professional standards a lot do not and unlike the farriers registration council there seems little knowledge by most horse owners as to has who has a valid and meaningful qualification.
 
Goldenstar said:
A EDT however good canot sedate a horse and that's always a big issue with using one.
Click to expand...

But you can get oral sedation that is suitable for most horses without the vet coming out and most horses do not need sedation for their teeth to be done.

honetpot said:
I have had the vet do my horses teeth for 40+ years. In the old days it was a couple of rasps and quick file, used to cost about a tenner. Last month I had an old mare that needed checking as she was losing weight, had come from a knowledgeable home where she had been well looked after. Vets comes with full kit,with head torch.Seems she hadn't been done for ages, needed sedation and 45mins worth of work. He phoned me a week later to check all was OK.
There are good and bad in any proffession, the thing is with a vet they have a business adress not just a mobile phone and have profeesional standards to adhere to. I would far rather give my £50 to a vet who by the way doesn't charge if they do not need doing than someone who there every chance of not tracking down if there is a problem.
Click to expand...

We use a superb EDT who is always availabel via mobile or facebook. On one occasion my sister's cob starting quiding, I facebooked him about 6-7pm and he was at our yard at 9am the next morning so easy to get hold of definately.
We pay £40 per horse per time unless there's no work. We have 3 total and the 2 youngsters are done every six months, the older every year. On the visit where he doesn't do work on the older cob he still pops the gag on and checks him but doesn't charge for this.
Recently he came to do our guys and my mare was due. She was about 9 1/2 - 10 months pregnant so we were very wary of stressing her. He did as much work as she coped with (not much) and managed to remove the worst of the sharp edges. He was incredibly aware of her the entire time and is generally an excellent horseman. He's take this mare from needing heavy sedation to being able to do everything but the bit seat without any sedation at all over about 5 sessions.
I simply can't rate this EDT highly enough (I'm in Cumbria, feel free to pm for name if wanted).

One of the things I've found with the EDT's that I've felt were very good is that they have both encouraged me to have a feel of the horse's mouth myself, explaining what I was feeling both before and after they worked on the horse.

I have also had a bad expereicne of an EDT in that he appeared to be a very good horseman, he worked really well with my stressy tb however when he was checked by a vet after about 3 months his mouth was an absolute mess.


I think it's down to the individual rather than 'EDT' or 'vet'. Also 15 minutes isn't enough even for a quick bout of work - if they need rasped it takes a lot longer than that to do a proper job of it
 
Horserider and custard cream make an interesting point. As horse owners we cannot be experts in all the specialisms, and that's why we rely heavily on people who are experts to help us, whether as a saddle fitter, vet or dentist. It's a very sad fact of horse ownership that we cannot always rely on the experts to bridge the gap.
 
Natch said:
Horserider and custard cream make an interesting point. As horse owners we cannot be experts in all the specialisms, and that's why we rely heavily on people who are experts to help us, whether as a saddle fitter, vet or dentist. It's a very sad fact of horse ownership that we cannot always rely on the experts to bridge the gap.
Click to expand...

I agree we do have to rely on experts but a good expert will explain what they are doing. My EDT shows me in the horses mouth and points out what he's doing he also encourages me to feel myself before and after, now I know nothing about teeth but I can spot a big gap between them and feel the difference between sharp and smooth. A bit of basic interest in what's in their mouths doesn't make me a dentist but it does give me comfort that they've been properly looked at.

He also showed me how the power tools work by putting it on my arm - so I could see for myself they can't damage the softer parts of the mouth as they just stop - I declined to try the hand rasp on my arm!!
 
Used both but the vet caused my horse to collapse on floor (out cold). So I suppose I could give an opinion the other way. However the last ED I used she mentioned that as he lived out 24/7 he had some of the best teeth she had seen compared to a stabled horse. She told me the areas he had where it was possible that grass could get trapped and to look etc. I have had good experiences of two different ED. So I suppose its like finding anyone that is good at their profession. Hope your horse is ok and at least the problem has been sorted but can understand why you wont use this particular ED(but yes I suppose the teeth can change in a year).
 
Good vets: bad vets. Good EDTs: bad EDTs. I use a vet that is also qualified as EDT but I have bad experience of Vets that aren't as well qualified.
 
honetpot said:
I have had the vet do my horses teeth for 40+ years. In the old days it was a couple of rasps and quick file, used to cost about a tenner. Last month I had an old mare that needed checking as she was losing weight, had come from a knowledgeable home where she had been well looked after. Vets comes with full kit,with head torch.Seems she hadn't been done for ages, needed sedation and 45mins worth of work. He phoned me a week later to check all was OK.
There are good and bad in any proffession, the thing is with a vet they have a business adress not just a mobile phone and have profeesional standards to adhere to. I would far rather give my £50 to a vet who by the way doesn't charge if they do not need doing than someone who there every chance of not tracking down if there is a problem.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. What worries me is all the youngsters with a car full of power tools advertising themselves on FB, ED seems to be the the thing to do ATM. And none of them are particularly cheap either!
 
marmalade76 said:
Totally agree. What worries me is all the youngsters with a car full of power tools advertising themselves on FB, ED seems to be the the thing to do ATM. And none of them are particularly cheap either!
Click to expand...

You could argue the same about a young vet with lots of equipment although I concede they are unlikely to advertise on Facebook.

Younger people are obviously unlikely to have years of experience however some older EDTs have equally little experience as they have often had previous careers.

If an EDT is BEVA qualified they will have undergone considerable training and produced a portfolio of 300 cases, had recommendations from another EDT and a vet before sitting the exams. Young or old people without the necessary training, experience or qualifications are the ones that should be regarded with extreme caution.

As far a price is concerned most EDTs are probably cheaper than farriers and yet have equally as much invested in their training and equipment. They also need to have a larger clientele to have a viable business as they probably only see each horse once or twice a year compared with the 6 -8 weeks average for a farrier.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top