Equine Dentistry-Equilibration and Lateral Excursion
Posted by Geoff Tucker on Mon, Jul 06, 2009
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.
These are definitions used in modern equine dentistry to describe issues seen inside the horse's mouth. These dentists evaluate the movement of the jaw and adjust this movement through filing off edges in a manner that aligns the jaw. I feel that there are three issues that invalidate these procedures. First is that the primary cause is not directly addressed (the removal of pain); however, the sharp points are removed so it is addressed secondarily. In other words, it is the removal of pain that the horse is responding to, not the equilibration procedure. The second issue is that a horse chews 10,000 to 40,000 times in a day so all the work done by the equilibration process may be gone in a week or two as the horse equilibrates by himself. And third, if the jaw has been out of equilibration for a while, is it possible that correcting it in one procedure may injure the horse? We certainly would not abruptly change hoof angles without worrying about creating lameness. So why do so many horses after being floated using these modern techniques stop eating for days or weeks?
FAQ by
Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a
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Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a
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