Posted by Geoff Tucker on Thu, Jul 08, 2010
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
According to an authoritative text on equine dentistry, there are two types of procedures used in examining the mouth of the horse. The first is called visual and the other is non-visual. What are the differences and why should you care?
With visual, the mouth of the sedated horse is opened with a device called a speculum or mouth gag and a light source is used along with mirrors and cheek retractors. The advantage is that visualization of the teeth and mouth cavity can offer information that would be otherwise be missed by non-visual methods. Is this true? Is what they find important?
A few years back, researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Wien, Austria examined the inside of the mouths of 300 horses using a small TV camera. They thoroughly inspected the inside of the mouth and recorded their results. Several things jumped to my attention.
Before I say more, I need to disclose that the report I read was NOT the actual report but the synopsis offered in an article printed in The Horse magazine on Dec 26, 2008 (# 13324). This magazine's reputation is excellent (Howdy Chad!) so I will assume the information to be accurate.
The most surprising sentence was this: "Due to the anatomy of the horses' oral cavity and associated structures, it is not possible to open the mouth wide enough to directly visualize all surfaces of the teeth, even with the assistance of mouth gags, lights, and buccal (cheek) retractors." This statement from the vet researcher says that the non-camera visualization technique misses things.
Another surprising thing I noticed was this observation: Of the 300 horses inspected, 96% had dental points and 64% had focal overgrowths of part of the tooth. I found the same amount in horses I examine using the non-visual digital palpation technique. You can see me use my hand and fingers to feel what my eyes can't see by going to my web site here.
Finally, the study using the camera technology identified that HALF of the horses had fine visible cracks or fissure fractures and tooth cavities ("infundibular hypoplasia/carries/cavities"). Further ONE QUARTER of them had spaces between their teeth ("diastemas"). This really surprised me because I see no relevance between these observations and my clinical experience with actual horses. Yes I find about 3 fractured teeth every week in my practice. The horse very rarely suffers any problems form this other than when the tooth rubs a sore in the cheek. After removing the piece, the horse goes back to eating and performing well.
So how important is it to visualize the inside of the mouth? In my experience, my fingers feeling what the horse feels on every edge of each tooth - what is known as the non-visual technique - is time tested and works as well as any other technique.
As an example, this week I worked on a mini donkey. Using my fingers I was able to examine and find a slab fracture of the last upper right cheek tooth on the cheek side. There is no other spot in the horse's mouth harder to examine than this spot. I was able to identify the fractured piece, insert a dental pick, and using finger strength, extract the piece (about 1 inch by 1/2 inch by 1/8 inch). The owner had no complaints about him before we started working on him so this was an incidental finding.
I am sure the same results would have been achieved with the mouth gag, mirror, and cheek retractor. But don't let them discount the old way. It works well and with practice can be done by any equine dentist or vet.
I look forward to the day when my profession and equine dental associations consider the old fashioned technique of non-visualization to be still valid and effective. I prove it every day.
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Posted by Geoff Tucker on Sat, Jun 12, 2010
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.Some interesting cases this past week all involving old horses having difficulty chewing hay and grain and loosing weight. They were all great examples of pain as it relates to the ability for the tongue to freely move within the mouth.
A review of all the veterinary texts I have offers no information regarding the tongue other than on occasion it can become cut in two. So I will tell you what I know about the tongue.
The tongue as a muscle is equal in importance to the heart and diaphragm. It is part of the swallowing process. The purpose of the tongue is to position the food between the teeth, help in forming a bolus that is the correct shape for swallowing, mix the food with the saliva for lubrication, and finally propel the bolus back to where it is swallowed. Several studies have proven that if food can be swallowed, then a horse can thrive. If efficient swallowing is prevented because the tongue is in pain and a bolus can’t be easily formed, then the horse will loose weight.
The tongue must be free to move throughout the mouth to complete the bolus forming and mixing process. The one thing that consistently prevents this freedom was seen in the 3 old horses I saw. Razor sharp points in horses with low thresholds of pain. After smoothing out the teeth and removing the sources of pain, all three horses within minutes were eating without spilling grain.
But wait….There’s more! The tongue has two other important jobs.
The first is to push the teeth which causes the teeth to become more firmly attached to the tooth socket. In older horses where the length of reserve crown (the part of the tooth below the gum) becomes as short or shorter than the part above the gum, an unstimulated tooth becomes loose and starts to wiggle. This allows feed and bacteria to invade the socket causing the tooth to eventually fall out. In every old horse that I have found loose teeth in, within 6 months of removing sharp pain causing edges, the teeth become firm within the socket.
The second is to clean the gum - socket junction. Every case of gum disease I have come across in the horse has resolved with first removing pain causing points and allowing the tongue to clean the area. Additionally I add antibiotics and an oral flush with Peroxyl (Colgate).
One more thought on the tongue. In days long ago men shaved using a straight steel blade that was sharpened by "stropping" the blade against a leather strap. The tongue acts like the leather strap stropping the teeth. This action causes two things. It sharpens the edges of the teeth into razors and it wears a trough midway back along the bottom row of teeth. I call this the "dipsie doodle" because I like to have fun. Others describe the resulting formation of higher back bottom teeth as a ramp. This ramp is normal and does not affect the horse on the bit but it should not be confused with a hook.
Have I seen a tongue cut and hanging by a thread? You bet. Razor sharp teeth? Unbelievably! Treatment? Float and give the tongue a safe place to heal plus antibiotics. Outcome? Perfect reattachment.
So get the pain removed from your horse's mouth and improve the dental health of your horses. Float them whether you use a bit or not.
Blog June 13, 2010 by
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Posted by Geoff Tucker on Sun, Jun 06, 2010
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
Interviews on the Horse Tip Daily Radio Show
A short daily online radio show (horse podcast) packed with useful tips and information from the top names in the horse world. A different horse tip, a different equine topic, a different equestrian expert every day.
Hear all the interviews of Dr Tucker (in a new window).
Topics include:
Horse Tip Daily by Geoffery W. Tucker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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Posted by Geoff Tucker on Wed, May 19, 2010
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
Have you noticed that some horses are wimps with a low or nonexistent threshold for pain while others seem to tolerate all sorts of pain. This seems to be reasonable because if I placed a pebble in your shoe and an identical pebble in your friend's shoe then sent you both running, one of you would stop and cry while the other would continue to run.
Pain perception is a unique and individual feeling and the response to this pain can also be unique. With oral pain, some horses work through it while others flip over or bolt away.
One of the main reasons I use medication in horses I float is because the horse cannot tolerate the pain from the cheek ulcers caused by the sharp teeth. By adding a potent analgesic medication, the horse can then relax and allow the process to be completed.
In fact one of the reasons I DON'T drug 9 out of 10 horses (statistically over the past several years) in my practice is to see the release from pain the horse experiences as I float. It is the juice we live for in floating. We get that spot and the horse licks the lips and lowers the head. They take a step forward and lightly touch their nose to my elbow. Then they shake their head in relief. Ahhhh - it is what we live for in equine dentistry.
It is not how sharp the teeth are, it is the threshold of pain that determines how often to float a horse. There are other factors as well. Horses under 5 years of age have a dynamic mouth with soft teeth and the shedding of 24 milk teeth over 36 months. A few older horses have "flabby cheeks" (see the picture below) which can make floating the horse almost impossible without medication. The smallest bit possible along with rounding the first cheek teeth is essential for these extremely sensitive horses.
Each tooth needs to be addressed. If the last upper tooth is missed, the sharp edge driving into the cheek can make riding or turning the horse difficult. If one or more sharp edges are left on any tooth then the tongue will avoid the area. This leads to tooth disease, unusual tooth wear, and premature tooth loss. Severe pain may also cause the horse to have difficulty chewing.
In our equine dentistry practice our goal is to remove all sharp points that cause oral pain. Other dentists believe in balancing the jaw or adjusting the bite of the incisors. But in my experience, the removal of pain is essential. With the horse chewing 10,000 to 40,000 times a day (documented), then in 10 days, a horse chews on average a quarter of a million times. If each chew movement is painful, disease and premature loss will result. No pain yields a healthy mouth. If you are spending time and money training your horse, then make the bit experience a pain free one.
More information can be found at The Equine Practice Blog Site.
Thanks again to Barn Mice for featuring my blogs this month. One more next week - any suggestions? Doc
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Posted by Geoff Tucker on Sun, May 09, 2010
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
Angela Walkup owns and produces videos on her web site HorsegirlTV. She found me via Twitter and contacted me because of the style of equine dentistry we do - Equine Dentistry Without Drama™
This was a really fun interview because she couldn't believe that Melissa could float her horses without "drama" and drugs. There are a few glimpses of her floating but just look at how calm the horse is.
We are grateful that Angela found us and is helping to spread our message of our style of equine dentistry. Please return the favor by going to her site and spending some time there. In this still frame from the video, Melissa is using the technique of using the hand in the mouth as a speculum as she guides the float blade into the nooks and crannies.
Be sure to watch to the very end for my 1 second of hamming it up.
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Posted by Geoff Tucker on Wed, May 05, 2010
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.Before I give you the number one reason you should NOT float your horse, I need to acknowledge a few things.
First, I would like to thank
Barn Mice for featuring my blog on their site. They pick someone who they think is interesting and has something to say and then ask them to contribute weekly for a month. So May is my month. Thank you for the opportunity to spread my opinion on equine dentistry, which you will soon find is a lot different than the rhetoric given by the "modern" equine dentists.
Second, for those of you who do not know me, I am an equine veterinarian (
The Equine Practice) who was a horseman before I became a vet. Five years away from school on a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm helped shape my horsemanship skills. In 1983 my mentor at Cornell showed me how to insert my hand into the horse's mouth without using any speculum. Since then I have floated over 43,000 horses so maybe I might know why you should NOT float your horse's teeth. Are you interested?
There are two questions we need to try to answer: 1) what is the purpose of floating teeth? and 2) how can you tell if it has been done well?
From my experience the ONLY purpose of floating teeth is to remove all sources of pain. Everything else is secondary such as balancing the jaw and reducing the incisors. A fact that was observed and documented was that horses chew between 10,000 to 40,000 times a day. There are 86,400 seconds in a day. If we pick an average of 25,000 chews a day, then about a third of the day is spent chewing.
If the sharp points found on every tooth of every horse's mouth create painful ulcers of the cheek or tongue, the horse will chew in a way to avoid this pain. And what is the purpose of chewing? It is to form a bolus of food that is acceptable for swallowing. In another good study, horses with various degrees of bad dentition were given the same diet. They concluded that as long as the food got past the mouth, all feed was digested the same. But you who have mucked stalls know that most horse poop looks the same. We didn't need a study for that! What it also says is that kernels of corn in the manure is not a teeth issue but a lack of effective digestion.
Another important point is that the tongue needs to be able to move freely within the mouth to clean it as well as to stimulate and strengthen the attachment of the teeth within their sockets. Where this tongue movement is limited by sharp points, pathology occurs including local gum infections and loosening of teeth with premature tooth loss.
So removal of pain is why we float the teeth, but how do you tell if it was done well on your horse? This is actually tough unless you can go inside and inspect the job yourself. But I have found that the horse will tell you. In other words in most horses, if all the points are addressed, your horse should be more comfortable in chewing and in bit response. If you continue floating regularly then your horse should remain comfortable. If after floating your horse still shows bit discomfort or if he still tilts his head and lets grain spill out, then it is possible they were not floated well. But not always. Other factors need to be considered such as nuchal bursa inflammation, cervical vertebral lesions, and other things located outside of the mouth.
So what could be the reason NOT to float your horse? Simply this. Once you have had your horse floated and all sources of pain removed, he will now know what normal is. To keep him happy in the bit you will need to repeat the floating on a regular basis. Because in the next 86,400 seconds your horse will chew another quarter of a million times and the sharp points will return.
Blog May 5, 2010 by
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Posted by Geoff Tucker on Sat, Apr 24, 2010
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
Hey y'all - Doc T here. Succeed is a digestive supplement that conditions the hind gut and helps horses deal with the stresses of life plus the acids of grain. I like it and I like them. Please support this cause for Courtney. I have lost two friends, one my first veterinary mentor, from head trauma around horses. Please wear a helmet when you ride. Set the example for the kids watching you. And buy one of these T-shirts for everyone know that rides.
New Helmet Campaign T-shirts Added to Courtney King-Dye Fund eBay Store Established by SUCCEED®.
Aurora, OH (April 19, 2010)—The Courtney King-Dye Medical Fund eBay store is now featuring new helmet wearing campaign t-shirts, designed by Jeri Bryant, a single mom and dressage fan based in southern California. The t-shirts feature the slogan “Strap One On – Everyone’s Doing It” in an eye-catching graphic treatment.
The Courtney King-Dye Medical Fund eBay store was established last month by King-Dye’s long-time sponsor SUCCEED® Digestive Conditioning Program® to help raise funds to help offset medical and other related expenses for King-Dye and her family. The dressage star, 32, was seriously injured in early March when the horse she was schooling stumbled. King-Dye, who was not wearing a helmet at the time, suffered a skull fracture and remained in a coma until March 30. She is expected to face a long recovery involving physical, occupational and speech therapy. The eBay store can be found at http://stores.ebay.com/Courtney-King-Dye-Medical-Fund.
“I wanted to not only help Courtney, but also raise awareness of how important it is for equestrians to wear helmets anytime they are on a horse,” said Bryant of the helmet t-shirt campaign.
The Equestrian Medical Safety Association (EMSA) states that head injuries account for approximately 60% of deaths resulting from equestrian accidents. The EMSA also promotes the use of helmets, noting that “properly fitted ASTM/SEI certified helmets can prevent death and reduce the severity of head injuries sustained while riding.”
The Courtney King-Dye Medical Fund eBay Store has generated more than $8,000 in sales since launching in early March. Freedom Health, the makers of SUCCEED and operators of the online store, is aiming to reach at least $10,000 in sales by the end of April. Current listings include offerings from Dav boots, Troxel Helmets, HorseShoesByDesign totes, Shires Equestrian Clothing, various items of jewelry, plus paintings of Courtney and her horses Mythilus and Idocus, by King-Dye’s mother, Kellison King. A helmet campaign t-shirt autographed by leading equestrians including Karen O’Connor, Gina Miles and William Fox-Pitt will shortly be added to the ebay store.
“This is extremely important,” said John Hall, president of Freedom Health. “We are all members of an equestrian community, and we are compelled to do what we can for Courtney and her family. We encourage everyone to participate in the effort by either donating items to the eBay store, or bidding on them.”
SUCCEED® will continue to operate the eBay store so long as interest remains, aiming to provide funds to King-Dye and her family for costs not covered by insurance and other non-medical expenses associated with her injury and recovery. Individuals and retailers interested in donating items to the eBay store, or selling the helmet campaign t-shirt in their stores, should email Lyndsey White at lwhite@freedomhealthllc.com for details.
SUCCEED® Digestive Conditioning Program is an official product sponsor of USEF, USDF and USEA. It is produced and distributed exclusively by Freedom Health, LLC of Aurora, Ohio. The company is focused on finding, perfecting and delivering superior, innovative products that address real and significant health-related issues for animals and the people who care for them. Visit www.succeed-equine.com for further information on the product.
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Posted by Geoff Tucker on Thu, Apr 08, 2010
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
What role do the teeth have in digestion in the horse? Bet you don't think about stuff like this, but when I drive 70,000 miles a year floating horse teeth, stuff like this comes to mind. Why? Because the question of why we float horse teeth keeps coming up.
Over the past 10 years I average 3590 horses every year. So with almost 10 floats a day every day of the year I think I am qualified to draw conclusions.
The teeth and the tongue work together to form a consistent bolus of food for swallowing. Saliva is added to this bolus to lubricate it for sliding down the esophagus as well as an enzymatic step in pre-digestion. But I want you to think about this the next time you chew your food. Do you pulverize your food? Do your grinding teeth even come together? I don't know about you but when I eat a salad, my teeth DO NOT come together. My teeth break up the leaf structure and my tongue rolls the salad leaves into a small bolus for swallowing. The teeth are used to break up the cherry tomatoes and cucumbers so they don't go down whole.
I do not pulverize my food into a fine paste. In fact, while I'm writing this my jaw is relaxed and the teeth remain apart. I just asked Brandon driving next to me and he said the same thing. Yes some people grind their teeth but that is a nervous habit and not related to eating.
In our practice all we do is remove the things that cause pain in the mouth so the tongue can move freely about the mouth. This not only aids in the positioning of food, the tongue also cleans the spaces between the teeth as well as stimulate the teeth to remain strongly attached in their sockets. This last sentence is not mentioned in any book on equine dentistry. I don't know why. But let me give you three instances where I have seen repeatedly dental issues resolve with basic removal of oral pain, specifically from the tongue.
• Number 1: The horse has difficulty chewing grain or long stem hay. The horse needs his tongue to position the food between the teeth. If the grains are small, the hay too long and coarse, or the hay is too thin without leaves AND the tongue is prevented from moving freely due to pain, then the grain spills out and the hay is either spat out in balls called quids or it is refused and left on the ground. Removing the sharp points helps these horses almost every time.
• Number 2: Periodontal gum disease is a local infection between the tooth and gum. Many equine dentists will aggressively treat these using sophisticated human techniques. But on every occasion I remove the sharp edges allowing the tongue to constantly clean the area. I add systemic antibiotics and topical oxygen (Peroxyl™ by Colgate). Every time the local infection is resolved in 30 days.
• Number 3: Loose teeth in old horses. As the tooth erupts throughout the horse's life, no more tooth is created. Consequently the part under the gum and in the socket gets shorter with age. From 25 years on the amount of tooth anchored in the jaw is less and in horses without dental care, these teeth loosen enough to fall out. I am often presented with horses older than 25 that have not been floated in years. The teeth rattle in their sockets and some can actually be moved with the fingers. Most equine dentists remove these loose teeth. I do not unless I can pull the tooth with my fingers. Instead I gently remove all the sharp edges. When I return in 6 months, in every case, the teeth no longer rattle. Even the loosest of teeth, as long as there is enough root remaining, are once again firmly in the mouth.
I know my simple approach to horse teeth upsets the other new age equine dentists. I am not here to start a fight. But I do have questions for them.
• Question 1 - Before any dental work is done, do they actually look at the whole horse? Often they will create drama by saying that this horse can't live another day without this tooth being pulled or this cavity being filled. Yet the horse is fat and happy with no bit issues.
• Question 2 - How can a horse continue to eat with only 8 remaining cheek teeth out of normally 24 teeth? One well known modern equine dentist (not a vet) said to a group of vets at a meeting that by filling cavities we could extend the life of the horse by 5 years. Just last week another modern equine dentist examined a horse that we had just floated. He noticed a small groove in the incisors (front nipper teeth) caused by a slight overbite. The horse is chewing well, maintaining weight, and has no bridle issues. All the teeth are solid in the mouth. He said (and I am not kidding you) that if the front teeth are not corrected this horse will be unable to chew in 3 years. So the fat and happy 30 year old horse with one tooth on the upper right, one tooth on the bottom right, and a total of 6 teeth on the left side - ONE THAT IS CHEWING WELL WITH THE CORRECT FEED - when will he stop eating???
• Question 3: How have horses survived the last 10,000 years without these new modern dentists and their contrived and unproven theories? I understand that many of them don't have the horsemanship skills to be able to float without a speculum or drugs. However generating fear in the horse owner is unnecessary and not helpful. If good scientific studies were ever done most if not all the new theories they subscribe to would be thrown out.
Here at Equine Dentistry Without Drama™ we take the approach that the whole horse is looked at first. If there are abnormalities found in the mouth, simple techniques proven over decades of equine dentistry are applied over a period of 1 to 4 floatings. Every one of the 43,000 horses I have floated has responded to tooth related issues. They have not responded to bridle or weight loss issues caused by neck injuries, neurologic issues, lameness, or bad riding skills. In addition, not one of the horses I worked on has ever died from floating teeth. Ask your equine dentist if he has ever caused the death of a horse or if the application of his modern techniques ever caused any harm such as neck injuries, broken jaws or legs, or caused a horse to go off feed for a week or more.
The horse has survived for thousands of years without us and for a few thousand years with us. Suddenly and extremely changing the way we care for them will not make them live longer or make them happier.
One last question. Who is your horse's advocate? You are! So follow your gut when you feel something is not right. Your horse will thank you. Doc
EQUINE DENTISTRY: HOW DID THE HORSE SURVIVE THIS LONG WITHOUT US? by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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Posted by Geoff Tucker on Sun, Mar 21, 2010
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
100 years seems like a long time. In 1910 the First World War was just starting. Cars were coming onto the scene as well as indoor plumbing (toilets) and electricity within the house. Sending your voice through wires was just being discovered but sending your voice through the air was only a dream.
Horses were everywhere. Because they worked and provided us the essentials of life, they were maintained the best way possible. There were no vaccines or dewormers. Teeth were floated and hooves trimmed, but the theories put forth today did not exist. And yet without the theories, the science, the hundreds of choices for grain and supplements, veterinarians, X rays, nerve blocks, MRI, and nuclear scintigraphy, without balancing the hoof and jaw, without massage therapists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and psychics, the horse managed to survive.
Today I sit in a barn at Belmont Park Race Track in Long Island, NY. It is a beautiful spring day and this park is steeped in tradition. Horsemanship as practiced a century ago still prevails in this shed row. As does the traditional style of equine dentistry that we practice.
Is all change good? Let's take the flu as an example. In the late 1890's a flu outbreak started in Montreal Canada and spread down the Hudson into New York City. Almost every horse was affected and became sick enough to not work. This epidemic spread across the country over the next 3 years all the way to California. Every town it touched succumbed to about 2 weeks of no deliveries, no transportation, no fire service in town, no mail. Basically life was shut down as we waited for our horses to heal.
Today, most horses that move about the country receive a flu shot. There has not been a nation wide flu affecting horses in my lifetime. Localized events such as the EHV-1 virus that shut down Wellington a few years ago still occur. Interestingly, I was there in Wellington to float those horses the day of the outbreak. The owner said they had just arrived and there was a bit of a fever in the new arrivals. We decided to float them another day and I left. Unfortunately, the attending vet insisted that one of the horses be shipped again to the hospital for fluid treatment against the owner's wishes which allowed the virus to spread to the hospital and then out to other farms. That one error in judgement shut down a large geographical area, spread panic throughout the horse world about to ship to Florida, and financially ruined many people.
So while the vaccine is good and helped stop the spread of the disease, basic management skills (by the vet in this case) ruined a good opportunity to contain the disease. They thought that efficiency was better than common sense. This is what is affecting our horse industry as a whole. Basic common sense which has worked for generations is being thrown out the window as more and more people try to make a living in an industry that is, in the United States, recreational. But did you know that 90% of the horse population lives outside the US and that for many of these horses, their life is only work? Tribes and local cultures depend still on the horse for burdensome work. These areas do not know what a vaccine or a dewormer is. There is no UPS delivery for grooming products to be delivered. Should I braid his main and bathe him? Or should I hitch him up to the cart and ignore the swelling in the left fore. He has to work or my family goes without food this week.
So why do I bring this up and what does it have to do with equine dentistry? Simply that efficiency must not supersede time tested basic common sense horsemanship. Here is a case in point that occurred this week. I saw a 30 year old pony that I had worked on last July for the first time. Back then it had one tooth on the lower right arcade, one tooth on the upper right arcade, and about six teeth total on the left side. Normal is six top and bottom, left and right for a total of 24 teeth. This pony had 8 cheek teeth. They were extremely sharp and loose in their sockets.
Some modern equine dentists would apply theories, science, and math, drug this pony, jack the mouth open, sling the head from the ceiling, and proceed to remove all the loose teeth. Actually, about 20 years ago a "pioneer" in modern equine dentistry did just that to a perfectly good and normal horse in this same barn. Good teeth were extracted creating a bloody mess and injuring this horse badly enough that despite all the management efforts, he had to be put down. In essence this modern dentists murdered this horse. He was taken to court and was told never to return to this state again. The attending vet also quit his equine practice and now does small animals. The modern equine dentist went on to lead the modern equine dentistry movement and this month is being touted as an expert in the field of equine dentistry by a veterinary university. It makes me sick.
Last July, I applied common sense horsemanship to this pony. I gently removed all sharp edges without drugs or a mouth speculum and advised on some management changes. Today, I did not recognize the chubby little 30 year old pony that came trotting into the barn. His teeth needed more filing of sharp edges but all the teeth, even both lone teeth, were firm in their sockets. His weight gain was remarkable and his attitude made me sing with joy. OK, that might not be a picture you want to see of me, but I really don't care. I was so happy for this little pony. Simple, common sense horsemanship, the kind we use at Equine Dentistry Without Drama™, had prevailed.
The other modern dentist once said at a vet meeting this: "You need to identify and fill the cavities in the horse's mouth and if you do, the horse will live on average 5 years longer." This little guy will live just fine and will never die from teeth issues or tooth pain or a dental procedure.
Please remember to tincture modern equine care with a healthy dose of common sense. It still really works.
Blog #2 March 2010 by
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Posted by Geoff Tucker on Mon, Mar 08, 2010
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
Please vote against the "equine dentist" bill that has just passed the house (3202).
I am a veterinarian (Cornell 1984) who has incorporated equine dentistry into his practice since graduating plus the year before in vet school. Since 1998 I have limited my practice to exclusively equine dentistry. My totals then are 27 years of performing equine dentistry with an estimated 43,000 floats to my name (36,000 documented, the rest estimated in the early years including the year in vet school).
Due to client confidentiality I can not list current clients, however, I have floated all types of horses from miniature to draft and crossed all disciplines. From back yard geriatric to Olympic to the Thoroughbred horse of the year and Kentucky Derby winners. I have also served on the New York State Equine Practice Committee in the late 1990's where this issue of lay dentistry was thoroughly discussed. Because of this experience I would like to address the flaws in your legislation.
There are two key important issues. First is that there is no accredited equine dentistry school and there is no clear agreement as to what constitutes an adequate equine dental procedure. Without accreditation and independent oversight, how can a lay dentist be adequately and effectively trained? Second is that there is no clear veterinary/client/patient relationship when giving a legend drug by a non veterinarian. This relationship is a basic and fundamental principle of the American Veterinary Medical Association as well as a federal regulation of the Food and Drug Administration. In other words, for a vet to sell a bottle of legend medication to a lay dentist for that person to administer at will to his clients is a clear violation of law.
Equine dentistry is really an art form that has been neglected in the veterinary schools. It was only through my mentor that I learned it in my third year and practiced it during the summer before my forth year at a veterinary clinic. There were no schools of equine dentistry then. In the late 1980's a school was formed by a non veterinarian and since then many schools have evolved owned by veterinarians and non veterinarians. From this there developed an association which "grants" degrees that are applied to the member's name. Through their certification program members can rise in the ranks to become "masters" at what they do. However, there is no outside oversight by anyone who is there to protect the public from fraud as there is with licensing boards in each state. No one is verifying that what they are teaching is safe or harmful to the horse.
From a scientific stand point, using any and all standards as to what good science is, there is no substantiation for what these schools are teaching. Theories grow like weeds in the equine dentistry community with little to no substantiation for their proof. As you may know, all theories are just thoughts that are then tested against facts until proven. To date, there is no effort to prove these theories accurately. Only the facts are twisted to fit the unproven theories. Thus, the theories promoted now in equine dentistry are only ideas made up without proof. Further, because most of these theories are benign, through eloquent people they become dogma and accepted as truth.
Until theories can be accurately and scientifically proved, there is only evidence based medicine to justify techniques and goals in equine dentistry. With 27 years and 43,000 floats, my evidence appears to fly in the face of these new methods that are heralded as the "only way" to float teeth.
In my practice I statistically use drugs on approximately 1 in 10 horses (360 uses in 3400 horses over the last 12 months). This includes all extractions and procedures that are not routine floats. The rest are effectively floated using horsemanship skills. Size and strength of the dentist does not matter, only their ability to handle a horse. This has been going on for centuries yet the old picture of the horse with wild eyes and a twitch applied to the nose has become seared in our memory. This graphic along with drugs overcoming the lack of horsemanship has allowed both vet and non vet equine dentists to promote the use of drugs in every horse they touch. The reasoning used is that a more complete and accurate job can be performed. This is pure nonsense and it is proven daily in my practice.
So what is the "correct" use of drugs? Simply for the removal of pain and on occasion for overcoming anxiety. In my practice the threshold of pain of the horse is the limiting factor. If the sores from the sharp points are too much pain for the horse to stand still, then a combination of a sedative plus a potent narcotic is used. The narcotic is a controlled substance which is absolutely not allowed to be dispensed to lay dentist for use in any horse. On rare occasions some horses are fearful and require an additional drug which then allows the horse to relax enough for the sedative and narcotic to become effective. This anxiolytic drug is also a controlled drug.
To summarize the drug use in my practice, I use two controlled substances and one non controlled substance for the relief of pain in the horse and not for the convenience of the one doing the work. Drugs are unnecessary for 9 out of 10 routine floatings and when drugs are required, the use of controlled substances are effective in the elimination of pain.
Finally, I would like to mention that certifying equine dentists was tried in the United Kingdom in 2003. By 2005 it was considered a "total failure" (personal communication with the British Equine Veterinary Association - the equivalent to our American Association of Equine Practitioners). Enforcement is the key to control and frankly, no one is willing to enforce the laws. In Florida in 2008 horse owners were allowed to hire lay dentists as long as they did no extractions and used no drugs ( http://www.leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0474/SEC203.HTM&Title=-%3E2009-%3ECh0474-%3ESection%20203#0474.203 ). Any lay dentist using power tools was doing so against the laws of the state. Yet today lay dentist are using power tools without fear of any enforcement in Florida.
This concludes my brief discussion on traditional versus modern equine dentistry. More information as well as pictures and videos can be found on my web site ( http://www.theequinepractice.com ).
If it were asked of me, lay dentists should be allowed to work under the guidance of a veterinary practice where the veterinarian has a vested interest in the result. Horse owners should be allowed to use non controlled drugs as long as the vet is aware (the vet has prescribed it for that horse) and the owner administers it taking full responsibility for any reactions. Preferably, the horse would be rescheduled for the vet to administer the appropriate medication.
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Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a
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