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  Discussion on Diastemata - treatment needs general anaesthetic?
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Member:
imogen

Posted on Monday, Nov 24, 2008 - 11:25 am:

Dear Dr 0

My 18 yo broodmare has just had her teeth done for the first time in about 18 months. She now has 5 diastemata (gaps where food collects and causes gum problems) and it has been suggested that if I want to breed from her again I need to have the diastemata treated by burring as described in your article.

She is thin at the moment but that is recent (last couple of months) and could just be due to my weaning her foal a bit late to suit my own activities.

Unfortunately she is not well behaved for teeth even with sedation, so fixing the diastemata would involve "DrOpping her" (general anaesthetic) at a cost of 600-1000 euros.

Is it your experience that this type of treatment requires general anaesthetic?

I am also wondering, if I am to go ahead with this, whether to also request the draining of the large cyst in her uterus at the same time, since this mare has a heart murmur and her risks from general anaesthesia would be higher than usual... but then the cyst-draining should be done in early spring close to the time she goes to the stud farm, whereas the teeth should be done soon to get her weight to an optimal level. I guess if I did both in early January that might be best.

I will of course get advice directly from my vet, I tend to ask these questions here partly to know what questions to ask when discussing the options.

Many thanks for any advice you have.

Imogen
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Nov 25, 2008 - 7:22 am:

Hello Imogen,
5 diastemata in one horse Imogen? How remarkable is the gingivitis? Does the horse have a foul breath? Concerning your direct questions I cannot be much help as these are questions best answered by those with greater familiarity with your horse and the nature of the lesions. Normally these are corrected in the standing horse Imogen but this decision has to be made depending on the horse's willingness to be worked on and the amount of work to be done.

I am really in no position to decide whether the uterine procedure should be done concurrently and this should be taken up with the surgeon.
DrO
Member:
imogen

Posted on Tuesday, Nov 25, 2008 - 9:26 am:

No, the horse does not have foul breath although some of the impacted food removed yesterday was smelly... She has always had uneven teeth. She is not DrOpping food. I was wondering about trying again standing with her in stocks and using a different sedative (or even a mixture).

Best wishes

Imogen

I will of course ask for advice directly.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Nov 25, 2008 - 7:07 pm:

Do you know what sedatives and dosages used?
DrO
Member:
imogen

Posted on Wednesday, Nov 26, 2008 - 2:50 am:

No. Dormosedan is fairly widely used here and there is another one, name of which I forget. He did a light sedation first then two top-ups. This vet does a lot of teeth and thus a lot of standing sedation. He was telling us he sometimes uses a mixture of both drugs which "really bombs them out" but didn't have the second with him that day...

I think he's probably right that she will have to be DrOpped as she gets upset and moves when you get close to the far-back molars even with sedation. I just want to avoid unnecessary risk given her age and heart murmur, so I'm going to have a chat with the principal vet in the practice about best course of action.

Imogen
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