Equine Veterinary Dentistry

So where are we now in equine veterinary dentistry in New Zealand?

Although New Zealand lags behind the northern hemisphere in terms of equine veterinary dental advances, with the efforts of a group of equine veterinarians with post-graduate education and certification in equine dentistry, we’re catching up… and bringing along many more veterinarians this year! 

The education has always been available in the northern hemisphere, but now is readily available here and in Australia, to those veterinarians interested in improving their knowledge of current therapy in equine dentistry.  Although in the past, some veterinarians have not been keen to perform equine dentistry, that seems to be changing fast.

Veterinarians already have extensive knowledge of oral and dental anatomy, physiology, pathology, diagnostics, treatment and pharmaceuticals.  Veterinarians look at whole horse, not just the teeth, and are able to observe clinical signs within the oral cavity (mouth) or head which may indicate conditions requiring veterinary care in other parts of the body or organ systems, (eg: Cushing’s Disease).

Veterinarians can also offer tetanus prophylaxis, a very important part of dental, as well as of general veterinary, care as well.  With their in-depth training, your equine veterinarian with current postgraduate training in equine dentistry is well placed to examine, diagnose, sedate and treat the dental conditions of your horse better than others in the field.

Some still believe sedation is unnecessary for good dentistry. I believe that sedation is necessary for a good examination. Sure, one can float a horse’s teeth without it, but exactly what are they treating? Do you want me to place a mirror into your horse’s mouth without sedation? 🙂 I used to think I did a pretty good job of dentistry without a full mouth speculum, a mirror, a good intraoral light and sedation.

The more I learned, however, the more I realised what I must’ve been missing. If you don’t look for oral disease, you won’t find any.  It is all very well to feel what is going on in a horse’s mouth, but to get the full picture, one needs to see every tooth, probe them, and truly examine them. Use of a full mouth speculum, sedation, intra-oral light, and mirror on a fully-rinsed mouth allows your veterinarian to really evaluate your horse’s mouth for any pathology.

Stocks, (portable or stationary) allow the horse to be contained and offer stability to the sedated horse and provide a great method of stabilising the patient’s head. A horse standing quietly under short term sedation (ie, horse awake and fully ready to walk out of the stocks, for a routine dentistry, in less than half an hour), allows the best possible examination of your horse’s mouth, and also makes it as safe as possible for your horse, the handler and the veterinarian. This, to me, is the ultimate in horse, client, and veterinarian care. 

Why I don’t call myself a ‘horse dentist’?

Throughout this site, you may note that I call myself an equine veterinarian with a particular interest in equine dentistry, rather than an “equine dentist”.

According to the Dental Council of New Zealand, The term ‘dentist’ is a registered title under the HPCA Act 2003.  In order to legally use this title you would need to be a registered dentist, not someone who has taken a short course in “horse dentistry”, but a dentist:  trained, examined and registered as a human dentist.

According to the DCNZ, one may use a title indicating an interest in dentistry (eg. a vet with a particular interest in pet or equine dentistry). SO, no matter how much training I receive, no matter how much “dentistry” I do, unless I go to a human school of dentistry, it would be unethical to term myself a “dentist” of any type! Sounds fair to me!

I had extensive equine dental training (mostly on unsedated patients) whilst a student at the University of California at Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine (USA). “Modern equine dentistry” as some know it today, began in the USA, UK, and Europe around that time. Since then I’ve studied equine dentistry extensively and achieved my Membership in the Australia New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists, (MANZCVS). See my CV for details. 

Key Take-Home Message:

Your horse’s suboptimal performance or discomfort may be partly or totally due to mouth pain. If one doesn’t look closely, one won’t see oral problems!

Thorough veterinary oral examination plus appropriate treatment equals happy horse and happy owner….

©2011 Blue Mist Holdings, Ltd