Equine Dentistry Without Drama™ Blog, Articles, Videos, and Interviews (use the categories on the left to narrow your search)

Should Equine Dentistry Remain In The Hands Of Veterinarians?

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.

Recently the Texas Veterinary Medical Association (TVMA) wrote an article which was published on their web site titled “Why Equine Dentistry Should Remain In The Hands Of Veterinarians.”  Please take a moment to read it before you continue on to my response.

Thanks to the general counsel and government relations director of the Texas VMA for writing a well thought out article.  Having an attorney author it helped in clarifying some of the issues that are making equine dentistry and the rights of people to earn a living so prominent these days.

I am a veterinarian (Cornell 1984) that was taught how to perform equine dentistry in 1983 by my mentor (Dr Jack Lowe).  At that time, xylazine was called Rompun.  There were no other effective or reasonable drugs we could use for dentistry.  While dental speculums existed, there were no power tools and the thought of suspending the horse’s head from the ceiling never crossed our minds.  There were no carbide steel blades.  All vets had a set of Dick floats where the shaft screwed together (and unscrewed while working).  Usually the blades were a year or more old and were ineffective.

In my studies I cannot remember a time when dentistry was taught, other than a day’s mention in my large animal medicine class.  But why should they?  Equine dentistry is hard work and most vets know of a non vet equine dentist to do it.  But my mentor said that taking care of horse’s teeth was an essential part of being an equine veterinarian.  Because I believed him, I made it a part of my practice that I started in 1984.

In 1997 (or so) I was a member of the New York State Equine Practice Committee which was a group of NY equine practitioners whose purpose was to discuss issues involving us as a group of veterinarians in NY.  That year we discussed the legality of non veterinarians performing equine dentistry.  It seemed that back in the 1960’s a veterinarian and a non vet dentist at Belmont Racetrack got into a quarrel.  The vet went to the education department and there and then, it became illegal for non vets to do equine dentistry.  

This committee I was on had about 12 vets of which only 1 adamantly stated that only vets should work in the horse’s mouth.  Several were adamant that non vets should do it because they had no time, inclination, or expertise in equine dentistry.  The rest said they had no opinion.  The year was 1997 when equine dentistry had moved from hard work to easy work.  The use of drugs to immobilize the horse, the framing of the head in a brace, and the motorization of the floating action appealed to veterinarians.  The friction between vets and non vets however was increasing for two reasons.  First was the inflammatory remarks by non vet dentists in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s stating that vets had no business being inside a horse’s mouth.  Second was the awakening of vets to the new source of income that they were entitled to by law.

During the past 15 years, vets and non vets have been virtually fighting over who has the right to do the work.  I believe it was Connecticut where the first challenge occurred by a vet who brought a cease and desist order against a non vet dentist.  The subsequent ruling allowed non vets to practice equine dentistry.  New York recently did the same with the race track dentists.  The non vets in NY are now allowed to practice.  Florida two years ago officially allowed non vets to do dentistry.  Oklahoma last year had a celebrity case where a non vet dentist was arrested.  They subsequently changed their law to allow non vet dentists to work.  A note here is that each state sets rules for which the non vet can work.  For instance, some need a vet present, some won’t allow extractions or the use of power tools, and some require certification at an equine dentistry school.

It has been interesting to watch the development of arguments between the vets and the non vets in the discussion.  What is striking is the lack of concern for the horse.  Each side escalates their side in an effort to prove themselves but no one takes into account either the horse or what the owner of the horse wants.  In an effort to make themselves more important than the other group of dentists, theories are proven with twisted and false evidence and horses are subjected to what I like to call the “auto mechanic” approach rather than using time proven horsemanship.

In fact, at the root of this whole debacle is the absence of horsemanship or the desire to be the horse’s advocate.  Further, it appears that no one is capable of determining the definition of what is “good” dental care.  If the science has not been done to even determine this, then how can a course be adequately taught?  As the author so clearly states, the schools are unregulated and are without oversight.  

A common argument against vets doing equine dentistry is that they have no training in the subject.  What, though, is better?  On the vet’s side is an objective education of strictly selected people willing to devote the rest of their lives to animals (and willing to pay the price) where they learn to differentiate good science from bad science, accurately taking facts and applying them to prove theories.  On the other side is 2 to 8 weeks of subjective training where people who are trying to make a better living are taught unproven or faulty theories which are readily applied to horses with no real regard to the truth?

The vets have missed the boat on this.  They should have been way ahead by stressing the importance of good dental care in horses 100 years ago.  The vets are playing catch up and because of this, they shake their sabers then teach the same unproven theories.  For instance, the incisor reduction was created in a non vet equine dentist’s mind as a “new profit center” (personal communication).  This procedure has killed more than one horse causing Professor Paddy Dixon (University of Edinburgh) to say in 2003 “we are quickly moving away from this procedure” (personal communication).   Two well respected equine veterinary chiropractors in south Florida have seen a pattern of neck injuries developing several months after horses that are over medicated and suspended from the ceiling slip and injure themselves.  Another vet who over medicates horses for dentistry had two horses die after injecting a badly compounded reversal medication.

It is time to realize two things.  First, there are far too many horses not receiving adequate dentistry.  We need as many equine dentists as possible at all levels of experience, skills, and price.  Second, we need to reassess all aspects of equine dentistry wiping the slate clean and starting over using facts to determine what is correct for the horse.  New research needs to be coupled with the experience of the elders to determine, first, what is the purpose of floating?

Should non vets do dentistry on horses?  Should only vets do it?  Maybe they should take my lead.  After 27 years of floating over 44,000 horses, I have embraced the fact that there are way too many horses for the few of us.  I employ a non vet equine dentist who has been trained by me, who uses horsemanship skills, and has surpassed the abilities of every other equine dentist I have ever met.  If I can be successful in working alongside a non vet, then why can’t everyone?

Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Equine Dentistry- To See Or Not To See

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. 

Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Equine Dentistry: How Did The Horse Survive This Long Without Us?

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.

Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Equine Dentistry- An Open Letter To The Oklahoma State Senate

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.

Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Equine Dentistry - Twenty Five Years From Now

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.Last night we were sitting in the living room watching re-runs of The Cosby Show with my Father In Law who is visiting us in sunny South Florida along with another couple escaping the cold and snow of the north.  They all are about 25 years older than we are.

    My eyes drifted over to George, Tom, and Helen.  In stead of looking at them as people, I objectively looked at them as life forms in their eighties.  How did they get to this point in their lives and continue to thrive while others in their 80's are falling apart?

    Then, as the 70 plus year old Cosby had the room laughing until all were crying, I wondered why some of the 25 plus year old horses I see have very healthy teeth while some others have loose teeth or multiple missing teeth.  Besides genetics, was there something in the management of them that had caused this?

    We know that in horses, the teeth develop into a fully mature set of choppers around their fifth year.  In adult humans, what we see of the tooth is called the crown while the root part attaches the tooth to the jaw.  But in the horse there is a long hidden portion called the reserve crown lying under the gum ready to replace worn tooth.  This is a fundamental difference between humans and horses.

    Thanks to the research of Katherine Houpt, VMD, an emeritus professor at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine (and a friend and former employer), we all now know that a horse chews between 10,000 and 40,000 times a day (Equine Maintenance Behavior: Feeding, Drinking, Coat Care, and Behavioral Thermoregulation) (Control Of Food Intake In Horses) (Feeding And Drinking Behavior Of Mares And Foals With Free Access To Pasture And Water).  There are 86,400 seconds in a day which means that on average, the horse is chewing about one third of a day.  Another way of putting it, on average a horse chews 25,000 times a day, one quarter of a million chews in 10 days, or 9 million 125 thousand times a year (9,125,000) - OR MORE!

    As your horse chews, a portion of the hard tooth wears away from two effects: grinding against the opposite tooth and stropping of the tongue (like a steel razor sharpened by a leather strap).  As the tooth is worn away, it is replaced by the reserve crown.  This continues until there is no more reserve crown and the tooth eventually falls out.  With all things going well, the horse finally dies because he can no longer create a bolus of food to swallow.

    Where does dentistry for the horse fit into good management?  There are two thoughts I have for you.  

    First, we remove the pain caused by the sharp tooth edges scraping the tongue and cheek.  This allows for two things:
    1)    All the teeth receive an equal amount of pressure creating a healthy stimulus to cause the tooth to remain tight in the socket.
    2)    All the teeth receive an equal amount of cleaning and pressure from the tongue causing the teeth to remain healthy and firmly attached to the jaw throughout life.

    Second, if we over grind the tooth when floating and remove more than just the sharp edges, then the tooth will run out of reserve crown and the horse will loose teeth long before he is ready to die.

    At our practice of Equine Dentistry Without Drama™, we take off only what makes the horse comfortable but leave remaining the tooth necessary for a complete life.  We believe that over-grinding the tooth shortens the life span of the tooth and will eventually cause premature tooth loss.  Can we prove this?  Not yet.  But we will see shortly.  Power grinding teeth has been around for less than 25 years as a major technique of floating teeth.  Only in the past 10 years has it become popular enough that many horses are affected.  We will see in the next 10 to 15 years if the prediction of premature loss of teeth is associated with power grinding of teeth.

    And I will be in the barn watching re-runs of Mr Ed while my son gently eyes me and my wife wondering, what will the next 25 years bring.
Equine Dentistry - Twenty Five Years From Now by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

An Equine Dentistry Saga - Calm Down Geoff, Just Calm Down

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 getting to the meat of this e-letter, I just want to say THANKS on this month of Thanksgiving.  It has been 11 years since I limited my practice to equine dentistry.  26 1/2 years and over 42,000 floats since I placed my hand inside a horse's mouth I find myself more energized than ever before.  This energy comes from both positive and negative sources.   I really want to stay positive.  My wife really, really helps me with that.   So the positive notes (I know this will not be as interesting as the negative stuff, but I need to keep you in the mood) -    I am healthy - On August 30th I had a horse try to run out of it's stall.  My attempt to stop it was successful but I ruptured the tendon that helps to lift my right arm.  While I was unable to float for 2 weeks, there is now little pain and I have compensated using all the surrounding muscles.  I have retained the ability to effectively float any horse.  I have consequently postponed the surgery until a date WAY in the future.  Why??? Because of you guys.  This brings me to number 2. I have surrounded myself with talented people to support me - Brandon Gager came to my rescue with his extensive experience floating teeth to help me when I could not use my arm.  Click on his name to find out more about him.  Then along came Melissa Buday, a gifted horseman.  Click on her name to read about her.  Because of these two extraordinary horsemen and talented floaters YOU can rest easier tonight.  In the future when you call me for help and my arm is in a sling, Brandon and Melissa are equal in their abilities to work on your horses.  This is a far better solution than calling an unknown dentist or worse yet, forced into a power tool situation. We have been blessed with a whole lot of really great horse owners.  Your confidence in us, your belief in our style and our philosophy, and your willingness to share us by your word of mouth recommendations are humbling and we are so grateful for it.   Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  I know my prayer of thanks will be stronger than ever.   Now for the juicy negative stuff.  The past 2 weeks have been filled with stories from you about dental issues that reminds me that there is a lot more work to do in spreading the message.   I was surprised when a client said that her own mouth was jacked open for 3 hours causing a stretched ligament that has altered her own bite - hopefully not permanently.  Thankfully her head was not suspended from the ceiling!  But she had once left me to try a power tool guy with a mouth speculum.  A week later when the horse could not eat and her vet called me in, I discovered that the power float had injured the back of the jaw.  The infection was painful with a bad smell.  Antibiotics and time resolved it completely A veterinarian examined an older horse that I have floated for several years.  In his general physical, he mentioned that the teeth needed extensive work and he was willing to do it.  Keep in mind that this horse is eating just fine and maintaining his own weight.  He is retired and not ridden.  But what really hurt was that he mentioned that it would take 4 hours if I did the work and that he could do it much faster.  My exam indicated a touch up was all that was necessary.  BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!  Melissa was also at the farm in another barn and was unaware of my conversation with this owner.  So we set her up.  I went to another stall and the owner asked Melissa to check the horse.  No preamble.  Melissa examined the horse and reported that the mouth felt really good and might need a few spots touched up.  It is one thing when a charlatan comes to your barn, but when he has a DVM after his name, then we all as horse owners need to be better advocates of our horses. Two people have approached me to learn how to float teeth, but they also have looked at other schools.  One was from Australia and she spent $7000 and a month of her time.  Her name is Wendy and afterwards, she spent a week with me.  I blogged about it here (have you signed up for my blog?  Do it here) .  She was taught all the new science that I counter argued easily.  But all my arguments no matter how logical could not compare to an event which summed up EVERYTHING.  I floated a horse that I have floated for years.  The rider/trainer was present and when asked if there were any issues to tell me about him, she not only said that all was OK on the bit, but she reminded me that he was NUMBER ONE IN ALL OF NORTH AMERICA in her sport.  So I asked Wendy to evaluate my finished float.  She tested the lateral excursion of the jaw as well as the incisors and proceeded to use a complex mathematical formula to advise me on how to cut the incisors so that the horse could chew better.  The fit, athletic, perfectly maintained horse that is number one in North America with no bit issues from the trainer/rider gave me a look that said, "Is she serious?"  I stopped Wendy but I wished I hadn't.  For days she told me that my simplistic approach to equine dentistry using horsemanship and real science had made mush of her brain.  I feel guilty and I hope her brain solidifies.  But again, who is your horse's advocate?  These dentists are being cranked out not just from these non-accredited schools (no over-site) but also from the vet schools.   So what am I doing to counter this?    I use social media.  Twitter and Facebook.  Please click to join my Fan Page on Facebook.  You do not have to join to leave a comment there on the review page. I blog several times a month.  Subscribe here and get notified every time I post. I write a monthly e-letter.  Please pass this on and for those of you being forwarded to, sign up directly here. I maintain a web site that is chock full of information.  If you want something added, just click here and tell me what it is. I talk to any group that asks me to.  I love to pass along what I know.  So if you have a group, click here. I write articles for anyone.  Check out the ones I have already written here. I give interviews on the internet.  Check them all out here.   So there you have it - the scrubbed and modified edition of my e-letter - perfectly balanced between positive and negative.  But if you get me at the barn and push the right button, I will let loose with my anger and frustration calm and assertive position on the issue of people ripping you off advising you with bogus advice that may not be in your best interest.   WHO IS YOUR HORSE'S ADVOCATE?     Have a great Thanksgiving - the best holiday ever created.

November 2009 E-Letter by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

An Open Letter To Equine Dentists Using Power Tools

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.

One week spent with an Australian equine dentist seeking all ideas and views on floating teeth has clarified my own beliefs.

Wendy has been floating teeth for many years in Australia and has recently visited 3 other equine dentists in her country.  Some of the things she learned helped her understand concepts while other things were disturbing to her.  She decided to come to the United States to learn from the "Yanks".

She spent a large chunk of money and went to an "Equine Dentistry School" in September.  The quotes are used because a real school is accredited by the state and is reviewed for content so that the people attending are protected from a dishonest education.  After her courses, she came to me and next week she travels with another dentist in Kentucky and finally another dentist in Ocala Florida.

Wendy found my web site and thought my philosophy and style differed from so many equine dentists.  It intrigued her and so she became determined to add me to her itinerary.

Today she goes on her way but leaves us with some good thoughts and observations.

    1)    "All roads lead to Rome" - We start with a horse with sharp teeth and we end with a horse with all sharp edges smoothed.  It seems there are many ways to get there.  Furthermore, each dentists believes his or her way is the best way - to the point of tearing down the others.  Some even argued that one type of float handle should only be used and the rest were garbage.
    2)    As a vet, I can drug every horse and use the power tools and I choose not to.  This in itself says a lot.
    3)    I only use 3 floats and my end result matches those using either dozens of hand tools or power tools.
    4)    The accuracy and importance of the theories being taught as science based may not be accurate or important.  Here is an example.  When asked to apply her knowledge of lateral excursion of the jaw and develop a plan for a proper incisor reduction of the horse I was floating, she quickly advised me on how to proceed.  There was a lot of math.  Then I told her I had been doing this horse for years.  The horse was in great body condition.  The rider had no bit issues or riding complaints. But most importantly, this horse is presently ranked NUMBER ONE IN NORTH AMERICA for its' discipline.  So just how accurate and important are the theories being taught?

Through the power of her observing and her willingness to to have an open mind and her determination to dig for the truth, I became the one most affected by it all.  As an independent observer of me and her honest conversations with me, Wendy helped me reach my own conclusions.

    1)    My way of sculpting (not just floating) horse teeth is an effective way to remove all causes of pain within the horse's mouth.
    2)    Drugging every horse and bracing their heads is for the convenience of the operator and does not make a bad dentist good.
    3)    The use of my hand as a mouth speculum has advantages over the disadvantages.
    4)    While "all roads do lead to Rome," my "minimalist" way works.  
    5)    Equine Dentistry Without Drama™ isn't going to be replaced with an "auto mechanics" approach.

I am grateful for Wendy spending a week of her life with us.  I wish her great success back home and her return trip is safe and smooth.  God bless you Wendy.  The horses you help will be happier from your efforts to find the truth.

Good on ya, mate!


PS - I welcome anyone who wants an open minded and intelligent debate on equine dentistry to contact me.  Remember to bring your unbiased and substantiated facts to the table.  I look forward to the discussion.  Geoff

Blog 091016 by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Equine Dentistry - I Got My Heels Leveled And I Don't Like It

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.

I love my buffalo hide boots.  They're comfortable and waterproof.  I wear them everywhere I go.  My boot care is hosing them off when leaving the barn.

I must walk funny though because after about 9 months the heels are worn on the back outside edge to the point where the rubber is gone.  So off to the cobbler where my boots get new - level - heels. 

Well if you thought I walked funny before....  It feels awkward but in a few days I forget about it.  I assure myself my heels will soon wear down and my boots will be comfortable again.

What is our obsession with symmetry and balance?  It seems that if the word "balance" is used it must be good.  From athletic gear to nutrition, balance appears everywhere.  Let's be honest here.  Do you lead a "balanced" life?  We spend money with therapists when many of us should be embracing the chaos in our lives.

If there is an organic disease, then a therapist, a doctor, a veterinarian, an orthotic device, and feng shui all will ease the pain.  These people move us from DISease to ease.  I like to call this FLOW or life without restrictions.  Balanced never enters my equation.  Like water in a river, life should keep moving, occasionally hitting obstacles but never becoming trapped and getting stagnant.  

Horses want flow too.  Symmetry and balance I believe is a man made concept which is applied to the horse, often with bad results.  We are bombarded with "natural" and "balanced" in the omnipresent advertising to the point where we think we need it everywhere.

It is my observation that in life, we adapt to the forces applied to our bodies.  This is why our bones don't look like I beams or 2 by 4's.  They are actually shaped by the applied forces into curves with different thicknesses.  We adapt to outside forces and one of the most prevalent abnormal forces applied to us and our horses is pain.

When we experience pain, physical or mental, we start to adapt.  It is undeniably  the way of our world.  How we adapt is dependent  on how we perceive the pain.  I call it our threshold of pain.

A pebble in your shoe and the same pebble in your friend's shoe.  Both are asked to run.  One cries out in pain and stops while the other runs without complaint.  That is what I mean by threshold of pain.

With horses, we have whimps and we have tough guys.  If you try to "balance" them, things could actually get worse.  However, if you find the source of pain and remove it, they will find their own "balance" or what I call their flow.

This is what we do in equine dentistry at The Equine Practice, Inc.  Our job is to remove the cause of pain.  It is ludicrous to think we can balance the mouth.  The horse has been documented to chew 10,000 to 40,000 times every day.  If a horse's mouth is balanced today, is it still balanced in 10 days after a quarter of a million chews?  It's like me and my boots with the new heels.  The teeth, like my heels, will soon be back to where they were due to a combination of anatomy and bad habits.

By removing the source of pain - removing all sharp edges on the teeth - the horse can return to flow and chew the way that individual is supposed to chew.  

If there is an organic block to the flow of a horse chewing then it needs to be addressed.  For 90 plus percent of horses floated in this practice, the removal of pain caused by sharp tooth edges brings immediate and profound relief.  The eyes soften, lips are licked, and the head lowers often with a quick head shake.

What is the most fascinating to me is how the teeth move in the mouth.  If all pain is removed from the mouth for about two years through twice a year floating, crooked teeth become aligned as if they were wearing braces.  In older horses with loose or wiggling teeth, one floating allows the tongue to freely move about the mouth.  This movement cleans and strengthens the teeth and in 3 to 6 months the teeth no longer wiggle.  

The power of removing pain cannot be overstated.  It is the underlying reason all good equine dentists become successful.  There is no reason for the power tool dentists not to also achieve a pain free mouth.  It has nothing to do, however, with incisor reduction, equilibration, or "balancing" the mouth.  It can be achieved with hand floats and usually without drugs.  I know this because we do Equine Dentistry Without Drama™ every day.

Melissa Buday Joins The Equine Practice, Inc As Our New Apprentice
Melissa Buday is from Palm City Florida and comes with 20 years of experience with horses.  Like all of you, she is happiest in the barn and with horses.  She is brave, tough, resourceful, tenacious, kind, and laughs constantly.  Truly a horseman, she has impressed me with her skills with horses.  

She had a brief career as a law enforcement officer in Port St Lucie.  While she hated writing speeding tickets, she had no problem taking on the the bad guys cuffing them and throwing them in jail.  I'd bet her horsemanship experience was at the root of her ability not to be intimidated.

Melissa is married to another L.E.O.  She has decided that one cop in the family is enough and has decided to pursue her passion of horses.  When not traveling with me learning the art of equine dentistry, she trains for three day eventing.

She joins Brandon Gager and me to bring to you horsemanship when we care for your horse's teeth.  Please offer her a warm welcome when you meet her.

Brandon Gagaer - A Full Time Dentist At The Equine Practice, Inc
Brandon Gager has far exceeded my expectations as a horseman, a people person, and as an equine dentist.  But this is not just my opinion.  I have received many calls and notes from clients praising him.  One called him "my brother."  The forum on the Wellington - WEF site is also praising him.  And not one complaint.

Brandon is a blessing to me and every horse owner who comes in contact with him.  I am proud having him represent me and all that I stand for.  You now have two (and soon three) that offer Equine Dentistry Without Drama™.

Blog 091009 by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

RFD TV Response To Horse Floating Letter

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.

Today Butch Morgan, the Equine Programming Director at RFD TV called me to explain how shows are put on their TV station.  Basically, RFD TV is an outlet for shows already produced and "in the can."

In other words, if I have a show they feel would be an addition to the programming already offered, they would be happy to air it for $30,000 an hour.  Of course this is in addition to the cost of shooting the video.

I would like to thank Butch for taking the time to call me and explain how this works.  From what I know, every station is different.  For instance, I have a friend with Animal Planet (a network of The Discovery Channel).  They have their own production unit that I would pitch my idea to and if they liked it, they would film it.

Here is the bottom line as Butch said it to me.  "Money talks."  

These stations are businesses and, like all of us, are in business to make money.  Is there money in a program about veterinary medicine and specifically equine dentistry returning to horsemanship and common sense?  Who would pay for this message?  In other words, what sponsor will come forward to put up a lot of money for someone promoting a message like this?

Drug companies, vitamin compounders, tack supply stores, grain companies?  Maybe a jeans company, a truck company, or Apple Computers (I have bought enough of them) would step up to the plate.  Maybe I will self produce with my Flip video camera and iMovie.

What do you all think??  Anyone interested in producing a program about veterinary medicine returning to horsemanship and common sense?  A story of old fashioned mixed with well documented and valid science.

I'm game!  So give me your ideas.

Blog 090805 by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Equine Dentistry - A Letter To RFD TV

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.

Patrick Gottsch
Founder and President       

Butch Morgan
Equine Programming

Andy Denes
Executive Producer/News

Heather Spillman
Director of Programming/Production

Gentlemen and Lady;

Equine dentistry is a divisive subject with people entrenched in polar camps - much like the political landscape.

I am an equine veterinarian (Cornell 1984) who started floating horse teeth in 1983.  To date I have over 41,000 floats to my name.  For 11 years I have limited my practice to equine dentistry - the "old fashioned" "traditional" way.

My style of Equine Dentistry Without Drama™ is based on generations of experience and horsemanship.  It is polar opposites from the dogma of the AAEP and lay dentist organizations.  It is also separate from the poor dentistry practiced by many individuals who have not received proper guidance.

Your programming is an avenue to the education of horse owners who thirst for accurate information to make decisions.  I assume that it does.  I have not had a TV signal in my house for some time so I have not watched any of your shows.  A friend reported to me the details of one of your shows about equine dentistry that was aired a few days ago at 3 in the morning.  From how it was described, maybe your audience would like to see to another side of this story.

You have aired a program (or maybe several) discussing equine dentistry with the perspective of modernization.  I would like to know if you have offered any programing that discusses an opposing view?  Anything on the injuries and even deaths caused by the "advanced" techniques?  Any discussion on the lack of horsemanship in an age where horsemanship is promoted?  How about the subject of good science (rare to non-existent for equine dentistry) versus bad science (abundant in the field)?

Honestly, I am late to your party.  I had no idea of your station or the extensive programs you offer until this morning when I went to your web site.  In fact, for 2 coincidental reasons, I am having DirecTV hooked up on Monday.  So I will check out your programing further next week.

What this letter represents is my effort to bring to the horse world accurate information about equine dentistry as well as other thoughts about veterinary medicine.  For the thousands of years we have intimately lived with horses, it seems like in the past 2 decades we want to change everything.  It's time for a reality check and to revisit our roots in horsemanship.

Thanks for taking the time to read completely and to understand my thoughts in this letter.  To know more about me, my beliefs and philosophy, and my style of equine dentistry, please go to:

http://www.theequinepractice.com

http://www.theequinepractice.com/videos-of-the-floating-process/

http://www.theequinepractice.com/beliefs-and-philosophy/

http://www.theequinepractice.com/about-geoff-tucker-dvm/

http://www.theequinepractice.com/Blog/

Geoff Tucker, DVM
Equine Dentistry Without Drama™
772-285-3866

Blog 091003 by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.