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RE: [RC] Headtossing - Susan E. Garlinghouse, D.V.M.I know teeth have already been commented on, so forgive me if this is redundant. When you have the teeth checked, ask (and pay for) a complete dental exam--- not just poking a finger into the sides of the mouth to check the first few cheek teeth. I get a lot of clients that complain about horses being fussy with their heads one way or another, and insist it isn't the teeth. And the first few cheek teeth may feel nice and smooth. But, sure enough, when you sedate, use a full mouth speculum and go all the way to the back corners, there are almost always sharp points digging into the soft tissue. I can't even count the numbers of horses that supposedly had their teeth done that still have sharp points way at the back. One horse I did two weeks ago had raw, bleeding sores in the roof of his mouth from one inch spikes jabbing into them repeatedly, and this was after "annual dental exams" from the local shoer that also carries a few float blades around with him <insert sound of banging head against the wall here>. Those back molar corners are hard to get to and a lot of practitioners just don't make the extra effort if they don't like dentistry, if they don't have the proper equipment (pulling the tongue aside and going in with a normal float blade doesn't cut it, no pun intended), or if they just don't know any better. Don't even get me started on unlicensed "dentists", but in any event, ask the horse be sedated and that the very back corners be thoroughly checked out (as well as the rest of the dentition). JMO. Susan Garlinghouse, DVM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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