Equine Dentistry
Looking after your horse’s dental health is an important part of equine management and easily overlooked.
The importance of routine dental care
Dental problems can cause significant mouth pain, weight loss and issues when being ridden.
We recommend routinely examining your horse’s teeth every six months.
Annual vaccination is a good time for us to check your horse’s teeth and advise on appropriate treatment, thus allowing prevention of many dental problems, or at least to identify any potential problems prior to them causing too much discomfort.
We are happy to offer dental clinics at yards and examine multiple horses during one visit.
Regular dental care is important for all equines to ensure sharp edges and hooks are reduced to prevent ulceration of the mouth and difficulty chewing.
Further abnormalities such as over/under bite, diastema and fractured crowns can also be identified.
Horses have a very high fibre diet and it is important that they can chew effectively in order to break down the fibre before it enters their digestive system.
Insufficiently chewed food is wasteful and expensive, and can lead to ill-thrift or more seriously colic or choke
How we can help
All our vets are experienced dental practitioners and have attended courses on dentistry.
All veterinary surgeons within the practice have the experience, access to pharmaceuticals and equipment to provide all dental work, both routine and more extensive, including power tool work and extractions, and imaging such as x-rays if necessary.
Useful information
Please remember that it is illegal for anyone other than a veterinary surgeon to prescribe prescription-only medications; therefore, they are the only professionals able to administer sedation to your horse for any more invasive dental treatment. It is also illegal for anyone other than a veterinary surgeon to remove teeth, unless they are palpably loose.
As a practice we are routinely asked to sedate for “the dentist”. As part of the booking procedure, our reception team will ask the name of your equine dental technician (EDT). It is important that you are fully aware of the qualifications of your dentist, and whether they are registered with an organisation such as the British Association of Equine Dental Technicians (BAEDT).
It is also important to note that many insurance policies will now refuse claims for dental treatment unless routine dental care is carried out by a veterinary surgeon or an approved EDT.