I've treated a few horses with chronic feeding problems lately and had calls/sms/emails from the owners telling me how happy they are that their "babies" are now eating properly.
That has to be one of the most gratifying things about my job, knowing that i haven't only alleviated pain but helped the horses regain a healthy lifestyle again.
Do it for the horse!!
This business will never make me rich in monetary terms but it certainly puts food on the table that is my soul.
Saturday, 13 June 2009
Friday, 12 June 2009
Logic, compassion or greed......... you decide
Equine dentistry is a passion for me, my love of horses and the need to make lives of horses better drives me to learn as much as i possibly can to improve myself and other peoples knowledge of our equine friends.
So i basically spend my free time researching how other people view equine dentistry, recently I've read a lot of theories and advice of veterinarians on the topic of equine dentistry. They say that "taking off sharp points" doesn't require sedation, my question to that would be "how would you like to sit in the dentists chair and have less invasive treatments done without any sedation"
Sedation is given to make the treatment less traumatic for the horse, see it from a horses point of view; does the horse have the ability to ask what is going to happen? does the horse have the ability to understand why this person is coming with a long piece of shiny metal and going straight into the mouth with it?
the answers to the above is a resounding "no"
so to make things more comfortable for the horse, sedation is given.
The sedation allows the dental technician to carry out the necessary treatment with minimal discomfort to the horse. Large abnormalities are removed with water cooled power tools (power tools rotate up to speeds of 18,000 rpm, water cooling should be used). Then the rasping can commence, this is where the rounding off of sharp edges is done, each tooth is worked so that there are no edges that can cause discomfort when touching the horses cheek or tongue. The chewing surface is only smoothed if there are abnormalities, why take away tooth if there isn't a problem? Correct, you shouldn't!!
Incisor reduction, in other words, shortening the front teeth......... this is one of my favourite topics, it seems that logic doesn't come into it with a lot of people, unfortunately. Think of it this way; how would it feel to you if you had to chew your food while your front teeth are together, imagine the force that you would have to use to get your molars into contact enough to process your food, imagine the pain that you would have in your front teeth, do you think it's fair to have so much pain for the mundane practice of eating, personally i would want to have my front teeth removed never mind shortened. What we should be asking ourselves is; what effect is this having on your front teeth, would our bodies react to the forces being placed on these specific areas? How would the bones react around the tooth socket where all this stress is being directed? How would the gums react?
We are told that the angles of the incisors change as the horse gets older, you do see this when you compare the front teeth of different aged horses, what they don't tell you is why this happens, they say that it's "normal". How can it be normal for the front teeth to be forced out of the mouth?
The problem is that it has never been studied and published by academics, do they care enough to actually study the reasons why it happens?
It has been studied but because the people don't have "letters" after their names then it can't be submitted or be classed as conclusive evidence. Personally i have studied the effects of shortening the front teeth on my own horse, she hadn't had any dental treatment up to the age of 13, her front teeth had begun to start protruding out of her mouth, i routinely shortened them and over a period of 2 years the angle had changed considerably. This confirmed what i had been taught by my trainer (i call him trainer because he isn't a professor, he is someone that has studied equine dental sciences for more than 20 years, 7 days a week with his own herd of over a hundred horses). The angle is now more like that of an 8 year old horse, also there's no redness around the gums, no tartar and abnormalities are no longer being formed on her molars.
That to me is conclusive evidence that horses benefit from having their front teeth shortened!
Some vets say that rather than do a "full" treatment that it's better to do a part treatment more often, so how do they decide which teeth to treat, they don't shorten the front teeth so i guess they mean the molars, four arcades of teeth, do they treat one arcade per month? Personally if i am going to go to the length of treating a horse i want to do the full treatment, why put the horse through unnecessary treatments? I think the motive there has to be a monetary one, think about it, lets say that they treat the horse quarterly, that's 4 call out fees and 4 treatment fees, now even i know that i could probably half that bill by doing an annual treatment, not only that but i can save the horse any unnecessary discomfort without thinking in monetary terms.
Vets are generally "anti equine dental technician". Even though generally equine dental technicians have more advanced knowledge of the topic due to having the advantage of living and breathing one topic for one animal. Vets have to know about anything from a mouse to an elephant, i wouldn't expect them to have the knowledge of equine dentistry that equine dental technicians have. Be that so the vets still begrudge horses being treated by equine dental technicians.
Having said that, i have recently had several customers contacting me because they have been referred to me by satisfied customers, they had their horses treated by a vet in the last few weeks but they weren't entirely happy with their horses feeding/riding habits. Upon inspection i found gross abnormalities that had to be corrected, my partner actually thought that the customer was mistaken and the horse hadn't received any treatment for a number of years, but the customer was adamant that she had the horse treated by a vet only two weeks prior to our visit. Granted the vet charged some €40 less than what i charged but hadn't even removed sharp edges from some of the teeth, there were large hooks on the lower 11's (furthest back tooth), the front teeth were far too long, tartar had formed on the stallion teeth (a definite sign that front teeth are too long).
Well i think i have probably overstated things in this entry so i had better stop at that lol
more information is available on front teeth and other topics at www.equine-well-being.eu
So i basically spend my free time researching how other people view equine dentistry, recently I've read a lot of theories and advice of veterinarians on the topic of equine dentistry. They say that "taking off sharp points" doesn't require sedation, my question to that would be "how would you like to sit in the dentists chair and have less invasive treatments done without any sedation"
Sedation is given to make the treatment less traumatic for the horse, see it from a horses point of view; does the horse have the ability to ask what is going to happen? does the horse have the ability to understand why this person is coming with a long piece of shiny metal and going straight into the mouth with it?
the answers to the above is a resounding "no"
so to make things more comfortable for the horse, sedation is given.
The sedation allows the dental technician to carry out the necessary treatment with minimal discomfort to the horse. Large abnormalities are removed with water cooled power tools (power tools rotate up to speeds of 18,000 rpm, water cooling should be used). Then the rasping can commence, this is where the rounding off of sharp edges is done, each tooth is worked so that there are no edges that can cause discomfort when touching the horses cheek or tongue. The chewing surface is only smoothed if there are abnormalities, why take away tooth if there isn't a problem? Correct, you shouldn't!!
Incisor reduction, in other words, shortening the front teeth......... this is one of my favourite topics, it seems that logic doesn't come into it with a lot of people, unfortunately. Think of it this way; how would it feel to you if you had to chew your food while your front teeth are together, imagine the force that you would have to use to get your molars into contact enough to process your food, imagine the pain that you would have in your front teeth, do you think it's fair to have so much pain for the mundane practice of eating, personally i would want to have my front teeth removed never mind shortened. What we should be asking ourselves is; what effect is this having on your front teeth, would our bodies react to the forces being placed on these specific areas? How would the bones react around the tooth socket where all this stress is being directed? How would the gums react?
We are told that the angles of the incisors change as the horse gets older, you do see this when you compare the front teeth of different aged horses, what they don't tell you is why this happens, they say that it's "normal". How can it be normal for the front teeth to be forced out of the mouth?
The problem is that it has never been studied and published by academics, do they care enough to actually study the reasons why it happens?
It has been studied but because the people don't have "letters" after their names then it can't be submitted or be classed as conclusive evidence. Personally i have studied the effects of shortening the front teeth on my own horse, she hadn't had any dental treatment up to the age of 13, her front teeth had begun to start protruding out of her mouth, i routinely shortened them and over a period of 2 years the angle had changed considerably. This confirmed what i had been taught by my trainer (i call him trainer because he isn't a professor, he is someone that has studied equine dental sciences for more than 20 years, 7 days a week with his own herd of over a hundred horses). The angle is now more like that of an 8 year old horse, also there's no redness around the gums, no tartar and abnormalities are no longer being formed on her molars.
That to me is conclusive evidence that horses benefit from having their front teeth shortened!
Some vets say that rather than do a "full" treatment that it's better to do a part treatment more often, so how do they decide which teeth to treat, they don't shorten the front teeth so i guess they mean the molars, four arcades of teeth, do they treat one arcade per month? Personally if i am going to go to the length of treating a horse i want to do the full treatment, why put the horse through unnecessary treatments? I think the motive there has to be a monetary one, think about it, lets say that they treat the horse quarterly, that's 4 call out fees and 4 treatment fees, now even i know that i could probably half that bill by doing an annual treatment, not only that but i can save the horse any unnecessary discomfort without thinking in monetary terms.
Vets are generally "anti equine dental technician". Even though generally equine dental technicians have more advanced knowledge of the topic due to having the advantage of living and breathing one topic for one animal. Vets have to know about anything from a mouse to an elephant, i wouldn't expect them to have the knowledge of equine dentistry that equine dental technicians have. Be that so the vets still begrudge horses being treated by equine dental technicians.
Having said that, i have recently had several customers contacting me because they have been referred to me by satisfied customers, they had their horses treated by a vet in the last few weeks but they weren't entirely happy with their horses feeding/riding habits. Upon inspection i found gross abnormalities that had to be corrected, my partner actually thought that the customer was mistaken and the horse hadn't received any treatment for a number of years, but the customer was adamant that she had the horse treated by a vet only two weeks prior to our visit. Granted the vet charged some €40 less than what i charged but hadn't even removed sharp edges from some of the teeth, there were large hooks on the lower 11's (furthest back tooth), the front teeth were far too long, tartar had formed on the stallion teeth (a definite sign that front teeth are too long).
Well i think i have probably overstated things in this entry so i had better stop at that lol
more information is available on front teeth and other topics at www.equine-well-being.eu
Sunday, 22 March 2009
40 years young
I was asked to inspect a little Shetland pony mare 40 years of age.
Having inspected the poor, little thing I was close to tears. The thought of this very cute little mare having at least 30 (!) years of chronic dental pain tore at my heart.
She was missing a few teeth already, as to be expected at that age, and the lack of an antagonistic tooth allowed the first premolar on both sides of the upper jaw to become so long that she bites her lower jaw constantly.
the lower jaw bone is stressed so much by this, that it has receded that much that it isn't far off breaking!
You can see a similar situation on the teeth of the lower jaw, if you follow the link.
Please, note how much bone has receded already in this case, too.
The rest of the mouth was in a similar bad state and she has only survived this long because she has very caring owners, that stopped her from starving by feeding her mash. This is the only food left, she is able to process.
If they had known about proper dental treatment and that ALL horses need a yearly treatment, they would have been able and would have prevented 30 years of pain for this lovely, little grandma.
Having inspected the poor, little thing I was close to tears. The thought of this very cute little mare having at least 30 (!) years of chronic dental pain tore at my heart.
She was missing a few teeth already, as to be expected at that age, and the lack of an antagonistic tooth allowed the first premolar on both sides of the upper jaw to become so long that she bites her lower jaw constantly.
the lower jaw bone is stressed so much by this, that it has receded that much that it isn't far off breaking!
You can see a similar situation on the teeth of the lower jaw, if you follow the link.
Please, note how much bone has receded already in this case, too.
The rest of the mouth was in a similar bad state and she has only survived this long because she has very caring owners, that stopped her from starving by feeding her mash. This is the only food left, she is able to process.
If they had known about proper dental treatment and that ALL horses need a yearly treatment, they would have been able and would have prevented 30 years of pain for this lovely, little grandma.
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Performance in decline due to teeth problems
I was asked to inspect an ex racehorse yesterday, i say ex because the former owners had decided that the horse was too hard to handle and decided to retire the horse.
I found that the horse still had wolf's teeth, this makes it very uncomfortable for the horse to wear a bit, basically the bit knocks against the wolf's teeth. The best way to put it across in human terms is to consider having a splinter in your finger and constantly having something rubbing it, as you can imagine it becomes sore and irritable. All that is required is that the wolf's teeth be removed to get rid of the irritation and the horses performance should improve with the bit.
Also the horse had hooks/ramps in the back of the mouth, this causes malfunction of the jaws when chewing and can have an adverse effect on the rest of the mouth, obviously this causes changes in the overall performance of the horse.
I'm hoping or should i say that I'm quietly confident that after treatment this horse will return to it's former level of performance and possibly make the new owner a tidy profit. The main thing is that i will alleviate the pain that the horse is currently suffering.
I found that the horse still had wolf's teeth, this makes it very uncomfortable for the horse to wear a bit, basically the bit knocks against the wolf's teeth. The best way to put it across in human terms is to consider having a splinter in your finger and constantly having something rubbing it, as you can imagine it becomes sore and irritable. All that is required is that the wolf's teeth be removed to get rid of the irritation and the horses performance should improve with the bit.
Also the horse had hooks/ramps in the back of the mouth, this causes malfunction of the jaws when chewing and can have an adverse effect on the rest of the mouth, obviously this causes changes in the overall performance of the horse.
I'm hoping or should i say that I'm quietly confident that after treatment this horse will return to it's former level of performance and possibly make the new owner a tidy profit. The main thing is that i will alleviate the pain that the horse is currently suffering.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Important information about horses teeth
The front teeth (incisors) have such an important role to play in as much as they govern how much the masseter muscle has to work for the back teeth (molars) to come into contact.
Most people believe that the front teeth don't have to be shortened, this isn't always the case. If the front teeth are too long the problems can be quite catastrophic for the horse, the force created by the masseter muscle to bring the back teeth into contact flex's the upper and lower jaw, this causes angulation of the front teeth in the sockets, exposing the bone around the socket, the back teeth are moved apart creating gaps, gaps that feed is generally packed into.
the list goes on and on and it's very sad to see this kind of thing in the mouths of horses, more on the topic can be seen at www.equine-well-being.eu
Most people believe that the front teeth don't have to be shortened, this isn't always the case. If the front teeth are too long the problems can be quite catastrophic for the horse, the force created by the masseter muscle to bring the back teeth into contact flex's the upper and lower jaw, this causes angulation of the front teeth in the sockets, exposing the bone around the socket, the back teeth are moved apart creating gaps, gaps that feed is generally packed into.
the list goes on and on and it's very sad to see this kind of thing in the mouths of horses, more on the topic can be seen at www.equine-well-being.eu
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