Make that Dental Appointment (for your horse) Today!

Get your horse's teeth floated at least once a year; more if you suspect dental problems might be at the core of training or behavioral issues.

A couple of things I learned this time around:

1. The term floating comes from the fact that once the teeth are properly rasped, the filing tool should "float" over the teeth.

2. Some Equine Dentist Specialist may go too far in smoothing and filing down the teeth. There needs to be some roughness and irregularities or the horse will be unable to effectively grind his food and it will dribble out.

3. In some states (not California) it is a felony for anyone other than a licenced veterinarian to float your horses teeth. And this is a big issue!!

4. In fact, there is a petition to keep it free and safe for non-veterinarian types of equine dentists to work on your horses teeth. (Read the petition - people are very passionate about the issues - although I think this petition has been allowed to languish.)

I've used a DVM that has specialized in Equine Dentistry and then I've used my regular vet to have dental work done. I've never actually used equine dentist that wasn't a DVM, but apparently there are alot out there!

5. If they ask you to hold the tongue to one side, you can ask for a discount! (you may not get it, but you can ask!)

Don't Look A Gift Horse in the Mouth...

Tommy Boy got his teeth done today. Dr. Bender of Creekside Veterinary Services was out late morning to do the honors. We were told his teeth hadn't been done in 4 - 5 yrs., and they were pretty sharp.







Couple of other noteworthy suppositions:

Judging by his teeth, he is more likely 20 yrs. old. Not an exact science, but fairly close.


Also, he may have suffered a broken lower jaw a some point in his life. The gap between his lower canine teeth and third incisors was much larger on the right side; it was also uneven side-to-side.

I'm thinkin' since he was a jumper, well, maybe he fell on his jaw!!

Not so! Could have been from cribbing and pulling back quickly from being startled (Has anyone ever had a horse break his jaw from cribbing?); or maybe he got kicked in the jaw by another horse. Anyhow, you can see from the photograph of his lower jaw how asymmetrical it is and I guess that's pretty atypical.