
Treatment A complete dental treatment comprises of: Thorough and detailed inspection (on the unsedated horse) and explanation of the diagnosis Examination of the horse Sedation Use of a full mouth speculum Working under water cooling Shortening of front teeth (usually on horses from ca. the age of 4) Shortening of overextended teeth (hooks, ramps, chisels, a.s.o.) Extraction of wolf's teeth Rounding of sharp edges on all teeth Good results: Horse's mouth is balanced and free from problems after the treatment, which prevents other abnormalities from developing. Prior to the actual treatment an in depth inspection has to be performed. This incorporates first and foremost a calm and understanding approach to the horse. This sounds self-explanatory but unfortunately this is not always the case. Amongst other things a good horse dentist possesses good horsemanship and gives each individual horse the time that it needs to get used to the unusual situation. Never will a good horse dentist beat the horse! Then the horse dentist can begin diagnosing by inspecting the unsedated horse by means of feeling for abnormalities all the way to the last tooth in the mouth. The status of the mandibular joint (TMJ) is determined by palpating and the overall condition of the horse is examined. Then the diagnosis and treatment suggestions are thoroughly explained to the owner. All questions are welcomed and will be answered in full. All these aspects are part of a thorough inspection and help to determine the amount of sedation necessary. The sedation used needs to be the least amount possible but enough to make the treatment safe and easy on the horse. Sedation is necessary in most cases to ensure that the treatment, with machine noise and water spray, is as stress free as possible for the horse and carried out to the highest standards. To ensure a non-damaging and precise treatment, I work with water cooled, rotary instruments only to shorten front teeth and certain anomalies. Most of the treatment is carried out using an extensive set of precise customized manual floats. In addition to this a full mouth speculum will be used. One-sided wedges are damaging to the mandibular joint, and therefore should not be used, because of the unevenly applied force when the horse bites down onto them. A thorough, precise and complete treatment takes at least 45-60 minutes, on difficult cases it can even take longer! The treatment is started as soon as the sedation starts working.

Treatment

A complete dental treatment comprises of:

Thorough and detailed inspection (on the unsedated horse) and explanation of the diagnosis
Examination of the horse
Sedation
Use of a full mouth speculum
Working under water cooling
Shortening of front teeth (usually on horses from ca. the age of 4)
Shortening of overextended teeth (hooks, ramps, chisels, a.s.o.)
Extraction of wolf's teeth
Rounding of sharp edges on all teeth

Good results: Horse's mouth is balanced and free from problems after the treatment, which prevents other abnormalities from developing.

Prior to the actual treatment an in depth inspection has to be performed. This incorporates first and foremost a calm and understanding approach to the horse. This sounds self-explanatory but unfortunately this is not always the case. Amongst other things a good horse dentist possesses good horsemanship and gives each individual horse the time that it needs to get used to the unusual situation. Never will a good horse dentist beat the horse!

Then the horse dentist can begin diagnosing by inspecting the unsedated horse by means of feeling for abnormalities all the way to the last tooth in the mouth. The status of the mandibular joint (TMJ) is determined by palpating and the overall condition of the horse is examined. Then the diagnosis and treatment suggestions are thoroughly explained to the owner. All questions are welcomed and will be answered in full.

All these aspects are part of a thorough inspection and help to determine the amount of sedation necessary. The sedation used needs to be the least amount possible but enough to make the treatment safe and easy on the horse. Sedation is necessary in most cases to ensure that the treatment, with machine noise and water spray, is as stress free as possible for the horse and carried out to the highest standards.

To ensure a non-damaging and precise treatment, I work with water cooled, rotary instruments only to shorten front teeth and certain anomalies. Most of the treatment is carried out using an extensive set of precise customized manual floats. In addition to this a full mouth speculum will be used.

One-sided wedges are damaging to the mandibular joint, and therefore should not be used, because of the unevenly applied force when the horse bites down onto them.

A thorough, precise and complete treatment takes at least 45-60 minutes, on difficult cases it can even take longer!

The treatment is started as soon as the sedation starts working.

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