Equine Dentist

["Mike/Joanie Kochanek" <Kochan@inu.net>]

I recently attended the NATRC Reg. 4 convention, at which an equine
dentist came and gave a seminar to the group. It was very educational and
made me realize how important equine teeth care is.  He indicated that the
vets do the best job they can; however, they usually only have one tooth
float, and it actually takes about 5-6 different size and angled floats to
do the job properly. His seminar included very good slide presentation,
showing actual conformation of the equine mouth, etc.  This man is a
veterinarian and admitted floating teeth the "usual" vet's way until he
went back to school on this subject and became enthralled with it.  He
advised getting young horses' teeth checked once or even twice per year
when they are shedding baby teeth.  Most of us don't think our youngsters
need this care, but they do.  He also told of many performance and
behavioral problems that were cured after dentistry work was done to
correct problems the owners were unaware of. The equine dentist does cost
more; however, he performs a full dental exam by observing and palpating
every tooth in the mouth to determine what needs to be done (similar to a
human exam!).  I was very impressed and learned much at this seminar, and
I've owned horses for nearly 30 years!  I would not hesitate now to
include an equine dentist appointment in my usual annual horse veterinary
program.