My old gelding had to have two teeth extracted the other day and the dentist let me take them home. Any ideas how to clean them up and preserve them?
Somewhere I still have 2 of my own wisdom teeth.
I was so doped up/sedated, that when dentist asked if I wanted them I must have said “Yes”
Anyhow, the flesh dried up & teeth still looked “new” last time I checked.
Assuming you want these pristine & suitable for display, Google should have info on how to clean & preserve.
Here ya go:
https://dental.washington.edu/policies/clinic-policy-manual/safe-handling-extracted-teeth/
I have a tooth from my old horse that looks fine that I have never done anything to.
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My horse’s teeth had fleshy bits clinging to them; one of them had an infection and STUNK!!! I soaked all of them in water and scrubbed the crap out of them, then let them sit in the sun for a few days. They could be paperweights they’re so big.
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Teeth are darn near immortal. There is nothing to preserve. Think of it as a collection of minerals, a neo rock. You can soak it and scrub the soft tissue that may remain. Sun dry to sanitize.
I have one! I’ve kept it in a glass jar for probably over 10 years! The horse that once had the tooth is now nearing 30.
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Sort of weird tangent - I was watching some British show about famous estates, and one had a small gazebo type building with horse teeth inlaid in the floor - basically the entire floor was made out of horse teeth. I wish I could find a picture. It was done very beautifully, and the walls were covered in designs made out of seashells. Bizarre, though!
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@pony baloney Same with one of these! Which was why it was extracted in the first place 
I currently have them soaking in a bleach/water solution and am hoping the fleshy bits fall off…
@S1969 That is BIZARRE!!! I’m sure it looked cool, but I would be totally creeped out by it :lol:
Vet put mine in a bottle with some alcohol and gave it to me, still sitting here on my desk, 2+ years later… :lol:
I really wanted to keep the last baby tooth cap from a very special horse that I used to own and make it into a necklace or something, but my SO-at-the-time thought it was disgusting. Still kind of wish I had done it.
Also, regarding the fleshy bits: could you bury it in an ant pile and let them eat the flesh? Seems like I’ve read about people doing that to de-flesh cow/deer skulls they want to use for decorating.
At first, I thought keeping a horse tooth was a bit weird. Then I remembered the collection of puppy teeth that I still have, with all the puppies having long since died of old age.
Rebecca
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I’ve got puppy and dog and horse teeth from as far back as high school. Nothing weird about that lol.
Do not use bleach! I only made that mistake once.
Animal teeth are totally fine to me. I have a huge extracted one from my mare on our mantel, with ashes from our old dog. But heaven forbid I find one of my kid’s old teeth. VOMIT.
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I have the baby caps from one of my horses in the bottom of my pocket book (southern for purse). I was taught that horse teeth are lucky.
I work at a vet clinic and we put the extracted teeth in hydrogen peroxide and that cleans the up very well.
I still have my daughter’s baby teeth. But they got mixed in with the puppy teeth. I would hope I could tell the difference just by looking at them, but I haven’t tried to sort them out.
Rebecca
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:lol: I have puppy teeth too…and I AM weird :lol:
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I have threatened to make earrings out of my horses’ wolf teeth.
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@IronwoodFarm - Did you ever get the earrings made??
I just got my first teeth; two caps and two wolf teeth! I have also heard they are lucky and am trying to decide how and where to keep them.
