#veterinarydentistry Archives - Equi-Still Portable Horse Stocks

Hello all you wonderful horse, pet, and production animal owners out there!

Emergency Basis Only, or

#Don’tBreakYourVet !

Most of your veterinarians are still allowed to practice and will remain available to you and your beloved animals ON AN EMERGENCY BASIS ONLY.

We are willing to risk our own health (though we should all be wearing mask, gloves, etc.) for the health of your lovelies. It is, as you are no doubt aware, not without risk to us.

As the incubation period is so long and the symptoms so variable, what you think was a little “cold” could actually be a case of COVID-19. I don’t want it and have no desire to infect my family. I have a heart condition and it would not be in my best interest to catch the dratted virus.

NO, not doing routine dentistry right now!

Please comply with your vets if they request you to wear a mask yourself and keep your distance if at all possible. If they want you to leave the animal with their staff while it is treated, or ask you to let them handle your horse themselves, please do so. We’re all under enough stress anyway, ALL people here. Maybe help get your horse into the stocks and let them work on the horses on their own. Please help them to help you and your animals.

I know all of my beyond-lovely clients will be happy do this for me.

HOWEVER…..

What’s an Emergency?

Clearly it’s not been made obvious to some. Some of the phone calls I’ve received have…. been… interesting. Mostly from new clients… such as:

requests for:

… routine dentistry, (as the owner will be off work for the next few weeks), or

…doing a pre-purchase examination, (never truly an ER)

… routine vaccinations… especially overdue ones…

…any other sort of routine vet procedures you could have scheduled several months ago that you want done now that you have time at home from work…

Clearly this didn’t happen overnight, but it sure looks like it needs help NOW.

Lockdown = QUARANTINE…

THIS LOCKDOWN IS MEANT TO BE A QUARANTINE, NOT A HOLIDAY! Enjoy it at home with your family, but don’t needlessly infect others!

They are the things you’d call us for on Saturday, Sunday, or a holiday, despite the emergency call fee, etc.

Things that could limit the lives of your horse or that if not treated now, will create pain and suffering for your beasties.

However…

LET THIS NOT PREVENT YOU from calling us if you THINK it might be an emergency. Or if you’re not sure. Even a little. Personally, I am HAPPY to field phone calls and look at a photo you take with your phone.

If it’s a colic, laceration, lameness, respiratory difficulty, the old horse who’s suddenly come to the end of his tether, or anything else causing you and them any distress, etc., for god’s sake, PLEASE be sure to ring.

This might be a good guide….

If i get sick (or dead) from treating your non-emergency cases, I won’t be around to treat your beloved horse or other animal life-threatening emergencies.

The phone is your friend. 🙂 When it works. There’s always Facebook. xx

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….

Tag: #veterinarydentistry

Emergency! COVID-19 New Zealand and your Vets!