Re: Vets vs dentists

["Sarah McIntosh" <smcintos@rapidnet.net>]

Hi:
We are lucky to have a local dentist who has been doing teeth for 30 years.
Takes courses every year and he works well with the horses.  He does over
90% of horses with no sedation necessary.
Last spring I had my vet do my horse's teeth.  $32 for sedation alone, she
won't even go near the horse w/o sedating.  Saffy appeared mildly awake and
so the vet gave her another shot.  She wasn't causing any trouble, but that
didn't matter.  The vet also puts the horse's head in a sling type thing,
which I found out later can cause neck injuries.
Many of my friends have used the local dentist and have been very pleased
with results and especially how he works with the horses.  He does the
dental work for the love of the horse, not the love of money.  The great
thing about the local guy is he will come out to our horse club and educate
anyone who wants to listen about what to look for, even if you don't want to
hire him.  I'm getting him out in the next month or two and look forward to
watching him work with my young horse.  It will be her first exposure to
dental work, and I trust that he will give her a good experience, not a
drugged up, head tied up experience.
Good luck.

Sarah McIntosh & Saffy (75 miles) & Tawny (no miles)
Abbotsford, BC
Canada
----- Original Message -----
From: Trevor Jones <t.o.jones@sympatico.ca>
To: <Ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2002 8:38 AM
Subject: RC: Vets vs dentists


> Hi all,
>     Well it's way too cold to ride -30C, it has been for the last 2
> weeks. So I decided its time to see what else I can do to get ready for
> the nicer weather. I was hanging over the stall door watching D'Argo eat
> and realized all was not as it should be. She wasn't dropping her mash
> but sounded like a garberator that was working intermittently. After she
> had finished I stuck my fingers in her mouth to feel for points, nothing
> sharp or unusual, I then checked her bite from the front. So I realized
> there was a problem her front teeth didn't meet as they should have her
> lower teeth have quite a large cresent shape worn across the 2 central
> teeth. She had an allergic reaction to the grass or something on the
> grass last year and could not be kept on pasture ( she bloated as tight
> as a drum and her respiration was at 60/min, after each exposure it
> would take two weeks to return to normal)
>      Anyway, I realized it was time to get teeth floated, I checked
> around the barn to see else would like their horses done, also to get
> recommendations on who to get. I had seen the local vet in action, with
> the mini side grinder, I had some doubt as to the efficacy of the
> grinder to produce a level plane, I think it would be great for knocking
> off points but since the working surface of the disc looks to be smaller
> or the same as the width of the teeth how consistent are the results?
>      In the area where I live we have several equine dentists, I have
> heard nothing but good things about their level of training, horse
> handling abilities and skill. They have taken their training courses in
> The States, as opposed to the average graduating vet, who gets about 3
> hours of dental training in a 4 year course. I worked at a Vet clinic in
> Sask. both the vets there took a week long upgrade course on dentistry.
> I would have no qualms about either of them floating my horses teeth.
> However, where I am now, in Alberta what I have seen does not build
> confidence.
>      The major problem arises in the fact that the dentists cannot
> sedate horses to do the work and the vets refuse to sedate a horse and
> then stand back and watch a dentist do the work. They must have better
> things to do with their time. As one vet said " If I have to come there
> to sedate the horse and stay 'til it's recovered I might as well do the
> work". He missed the point entirely.
>      I may be able to get some Ace or Atravet, Ihave heard that they may
> not do much depending on the horse
>      Any insights or experiences would be helpful! D'Argo has always
> been sedated for floating as a matter of course.
>
> Nancy
>
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
> Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=