No where in the US can a non veterinary dentist administer sedation legally, but many still do :-/
Power floats are also often limited to veterinary dentists, although there are some states that allow non vets to use them.
I’m not sure where the OP is, but there’s a regionality to these lay dentists and what people think of them. Around here, there are A LOT of them who’s shtick is no sedation, no speculum, no power float, and they have PLENTY of clients :-/
I don’t own a horse who will stand for floats w/o sedation, so I wouldn’t even think of using the ones you mentioned!!
This dentist doesn’t use power floats. Which didn’t really work for my horse because he has a snaggle tooth for one of his incisors that has nothing to grind on which a power float would probably take care of better. Without a doubt only sticking with my vet from now on. Uggggh I can’t believe I totally failed my horse in that regard. Smh
Henry just finished having his tooth extracted. The whole thing took about 2.5 hours and came out intact. He will be staying overnight so they can check the packing tomorrow. They left the other tooth in since it’s not causing him any problems. He will be coming home on antibiotics. So relieved that everything went well.
Get a good equine dentist and get EVERYTHING in writing about the estimate. You’ll need to pull the tooth. Had a friend who’s horse fractured a tooth and got screwed by the vet even though she got an estimate. The vet doubled the price after it was over. Horse received poor care during the stay at the clinic that cause him to lose a lot of weight.
It will be anywhere from 800-1200 to pull the tooth. Get an estimate on that PLUS X-rays, Tranq, Antibiotics etc. Get it all in writing. If you can be there, film the procedure… If the vet wants him to stay over a few days, record everything. How many times he was fed, how much he ate and drank.
You need to wash out the wound four times a day for the two weeks then gradually go to three, then two. Feed him soaked (almost a soup) senior feed with soaked alfalfa pellets three to four times a day. No hay or grass until the wound has healed, about 20 days. Maintenance is easy, just let your dentist know what happened and they will float accordingly. The gap will close up a bit as the other teeth will shift but you must float correctly. The lower tooth will be floated lower then the other teeth but not by much.
I’m sorry you’ve had to go through this, but that’s a pretty cool souvenir! Hope he has a very boring, uneventful recovery 
(I hope you do report the dentist to the state veterinary board!)
A little update.
Henry finished his antibiotics but the drainage never completely went away. It turned clear towards the end but 24 hours after finishing the antibiotics turned into abundant putrid discharge again. He’s going in for a sinus flush on Monday. I hope that’s all it takes.
long story short: one of my mares blew an abscess out the side of her face, was eventually determined to be a severely fractured tooth. after surgery last fall to take out all of the pieces, she’s been fine since. coincidentally, her infection was also resistant to SMZ’s, so she was on doxy as well. good luck with your guy!
Thank you! He had a 2nd flush today and is staying the night for a 3rd flush. Hopefully we can be in the clear soon!
You may want to consider contacting the equine dentist about contributing to some of the vet bills. He may have professional liability insurance. Although if he was acting outside the scope of his license then they will likely deny it. But he may feel guilty enough to chip in a little bit of funding.
Just an update, I’ve been locked out of my account for a while because I forgot my password.
Henry still has persistent mucus coming out of his left nostril. Specialists have reviewed his radiographs and see nothing that would cause it. It’s no longer infected but it’s still there and unsightly. My vet suggested I see a dental specialist that can float the upper molars in such as way that mastication will be less traumatic on the blunted ends of the roots in the molars. The typical treatment for this is pretty extreme in removing all upper molars. I’d rather he just live with a snot nose on one side. But we will try the different floating technique that the specialist has had great success with.
My friend had a horse with sinus drainage for 2 yrs. Numerous vet calls, horse eating well. Had sinuses scoped, had numerous dental exams by different vets/equine dentists. They finally said allergies, but then drainage turned whitish/yellow and she had head x rays done and they found a molar fractured at root. Had it removed, 2 weeks of antibiotics. Horse is fine. No more nasal drainage.
A friend of mine had a horse that had an abscessed molar extracted. Unfortunately it came out in pieces and the horse had recurrent drainage for almost a year. He finally had a head CT and they found a small piece still in there, lying flat against the bone so not visible in plain radiographs. Removed that and he healed up completely.
We completed a horse trial this weekend and I noticed he had some inspiratory whistling on the left. As if it were a septal defect or obstruction. My vet did suggest that he was suffering from long term inflammation which I just found out is associated with nasal polyps. I called my vet today and left a message to see about getting a nasal scope and if necessary a sinuscopy. Not thrilled about another hole in my horses head but you know. :no:
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