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  Discussion on 2 horses show difficulty in eating after dentist floated teeth
Author Message
Member:
frances

Posted on Friday, Dec 13, 2013 - 8:53 am:

Hi DrO and others.

My friend's horse and mine were seen by our regular dentist 2 weeks ago, and both have gradually shown increasing difficulty in eating hay. They have their noses stuck into it and look as if they are eating, but most of it ends up spread around the paddock.

In my horse's case, the stable guy said that only half her bucket feed was eaten this morning as well, and my friend's horse frequently opens her mouth and yaws as if trying to remove something.

The dentist comes from abroad once or twice a year, and I haven't yet been able to reach him by phone. I was quite surprised that he decided to float the two mares' teeth on this visit, as only 9 months had elapsed since the previous time. Does this sound like a case of the teeth being "over-floated", or ground down too short?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Dec 14, 2013 - 9:16 am:

Hello LL,
It would be unfair to judge without looking at the mouth, something I recommend you have done. The article on Dentistry associated with this discussion area gives our recommendations which IS less often than your post for a horse with normal mouth conformation.
Member:
frances

Posted on Sunday, Dec 15, 2013 - 1:16 pm:

Yes I had a local horse dentist just look at her teeth yesterday: he found there was an overlarge tooth blocking the full range of the sideways, grinding motion in one direction, and a few sharp points further back which he could see to. He could not say whether this would improve matters or not, as individual horses react differently. He is coming tomorrow or Tuesday to do the work.

My horse has been gradually improving, and can eat soaked hay now. I'm a little worried about having more dental work done, in case it will set her back. What do you think?






















(In the case of my friend's horse, he found a piece of broken tooth at the back which he removed and some sharp points as well. In her case he said work was definitely needed.)
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Dec 19, 2013 - 7:11 am:

Hello LL,
Again I cannot make such a judgement without looking at the horse's mouth. If you assume the recent problems are do to aggressive floating it would make sense to wait until your horse quits improving indicating recovery from the procedure before proceeding with another procedure. If you do not trust this second dentist opinion perhaps your vet will look at the teeth for you and give you an opinion.
DrO
Member:
frances

Posted on Sunday, Dec 22, 2013 - 6:48 am:

I checked with the second dentist to be sure that he would take off as little as possible, and he assured me that he would.

She suffered a temporary increase in hay-eating difficulty immediately afterwards, but by the next day was much better and has been fully back to normal for some days now.

Thank you for your comments.
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