What do you do? This will be my first time having my horse’s teeth floated. Should I have my vet do it like everyone else at the barn, or seek out an equine dentist?
I have had my vet do teeth in the past but I wasn’t impressed. All the vets around here do power floats with sedation. I prefer a hand float. I had a dentist do a hand float last year and I thought he did a good job. I recently found a dentist that is also a DVM who does hand floats - so the best of all worlds for me. He used no sedation and uses his hand instead of a speculum. He did a great job and my horses were very comfortable with the procedure.
I use a vet who specializes in equine dentistry
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I’ve had good experiences with both, just use someone with a good reputation in your area and that does teeth frequently. Personally I like the power float, it’s faster and seems easier on them.
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In NC you must use a vet for teeth. That only means that you cannot post about the horse dentist coming into town or making appoints. 
I like to use a specialist who deals with whatever part of the horse is in need of attention
Last year my vet found a vet who specialized in teeth. I used her for 1 time. She showed up with 2 big rolling carts of supplies. She tranked the horses, then flung a strap over a rafter and tied the horses’ heads way up. She determined that all of their teeth were in horrible shape and they needed to go to my vet’s clinic for dental surgery – which, among other things, required pulling teeth and scraping teeth.
Holy SHIT. I thanked her and called my real dentist to make an appointment. This lady has turned me off of “vets who are dentists”.
You should ask around (at your barn and others) and get names of dentists who come to your area.
This is one of those issues with camps that never see eye to eye.
I like my horse well and truly sedated if there’s going to be an oral speculum involved – I’ve seen what can go wrong if they have the presence of mind to object to it. For me that means a vet currently, but I prefer a vet+dentist team when that’s an option. And I’m not particularly fussy about whether they use power or hand tools, as long as they are effective but somewhat conservative in their floating.
I’ve used a couple dentists before who did not sedate and who did not use a speculum. To find a gentle dentist who nevertheless does a good job can be tricky, and when I’ve found that guy he’s been at least as expensive as what I’ve paid for vet+dentist teams before. I’ve seen another non-sedation dentist get a little rough and create more problems (both with the teeth and with handling/trust) than he fixed.
My horse hates dental work only a little less than I do, so I find the results are better in her case with the vet/sedation route.
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You are right - this is a very debatable area! I did a little goggling and found one that has 20 years experience - does not believe in power tools, does not sedate, but also says it’s a red flag if you have a dentist float teeth without a speculum. Given his experience, I’m thinking of going with him. Here is a Facebook post on his page about pulling a tooth without sedation - wouldn’t that hurt like heck??!!
https://www.facebook.com/LaRoseEquineDentistry/posts/1779615728716294
Be warned that a horse that decides to fight the speculum has enough biting force to break his own jaw.
I’d much rather give my horse a dose of sedation that maybe isn’t entirely necessary than risk having a split second of resistance turn into an emergency ride to the hospital and $$$ to have his jaw wired back together.
I don’t have sufficient risk tolerance to use a guy like the one you linked, but clearly plenty of people do.
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You better hope your horse is on the same page with no sedation.
Here a dentist cannot give sedation and I have an excellent equine vet who does a great job. If a dentist is needed than he has the dentist come to his practice every so often and they make a day of it. He sedates for all dental work and is there in case something goes wrong…
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Never in the world would I have someone who wasn’t a vet work on my horse’s teeth, and never would I have anyone work on my horse’s teeth without sedation. I’ve had way too many teeth related issues over the years that needed care from someone who could act as vet and dentist at the same time. My vet can take radiographs while the horse is still sedated for floating and make specialist appointments for me with colleagues at the vet school. That said, we have a vet in each local practice that specializes in teeth and a traveling vet dental specialist who comes to their clinics regularly - so in our area, plenty of high quality service so a non veterinary dentist would have a hard time.
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I’ve used the dentist who you linked to and was thrilled with his work. He is very gentle, has fabulous horse skills and gives the horse many breaks from the speculum. I’ve previously used power floating with sedation from a vet but I think I’ll be using hand floating here on out. One word of caution - be very, very careful with who you select. I think there are probably more unskilled equine dentists out there than vets.
A vet who specializes in dentistry.
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When we get new horses in, we get their teeth done. Without fail, the ones who were done by non-vets (with no sedation) have lovely teeth at the front, and brutal hooks at the back. I am not convinced that a person can truly get to the very back of most horse’s mouths without sedation to relax their jaw and lessen the gag reflex. I will also NOT use anyone who won’t let me look in the horse’s mouth before and after.
I prefer power floats as they are done quicker.
I think “hanging their head” is more than just convenience for the vet: I think it also helps line up their jaw by stretching it out as it would be when grazing. This is just theoretical on my part though.
(I use a vet who took extra classes on dentistry)
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I had a similar experience, the vet I uses now sends everybody to the dentist, he says most vets don’t know enough to do teeth!
i guess if you had a vet who only did teeth it might be different, but all the dentist does is teeth.
If a horse needs sedation he does have to get the vet out, but he is very good and most horses do great without it.
Veterinary dental specialist 100%.
Some of this is regional–there are very few to no “horse dentists” in large swaths of the country.
@Lord Helpus did you ask to see why the vet thought your horses were in such bad shape? Generally it is pretty darned easy to visualize once the speculum is in, and vets are usually more than happy to show you and/or have you feel all those sharp points and ulcers.
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Ditto.
I’m in Florida, fortunate enough to be able to use Geoff Tucker; he is both vet and dentist, will tranquilize if necessary but generally does not. His technique is quiet, calm, patient, work a little, take a break, talk to the horse, work some more etc. Its pretty amazing to watch. Prior to him it was always a dentist who was arranged by our vet, sedation and power tools.
In my opinion, you need the speculum in order to see what’s going on in the back of the mouth. I cannot imagine putting such a contraption on my horse’s head without having them sedated.
I also prefer a power float because it is done much quicker.
I have my lameness vet, who also specializes in teeth, take care of my horses.
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I will only have them done sedated. Also when I call to make any appointments at my equine hospital, teeth included, I ask for the vet that specializes in that area. So far I have my dentist/routine vet, my breeding vet and my leg vet. Apparently they also have an airway specialist. All can do all things just they prefer their area so I’ll let them do that
This is always a loaded question. There’s no single answer.
Vets receive limited dental training in vet school. If they don’t actively further their dental education, there’s no telling their ability. Vets need to master so many skills and there’s no way a human can be adept at all of them, yet to practice, they are still expected to perform all of them. Many vets today go straight to power tools that can do irreversible damage to the mouth if used incorrectly. Really, the capability of your vet is a gamble.
On the flip side, anyone can hang a shingle and call themselves an equine dentist. There is no single governing body, so much like farriers, education and ability can vary wildly. Then you have the legal issues: depending on the state, dentistry may fall under the scope of veterinary medicine and be prohibited for lay people to perform. This is a non-issue in other states. Dentists cannot legally sedate animals. Some dentists have the horsemanship to capably perform maintenance floats without sedation. Some dentists have found ways to “legally” sedate, such as obtaining a CVT/LVT/RVT and working under the supervision of a vet. Some blatantly disregard the law.
In certain areas of the country, there just aren’t many equine dentists and vets chiefly provide the service. In other areas, equine dentists are plentiful and the good ones are in high demand. It all depends on the laws and the local horse scene. As a result, you get a lot of varied opinions on these threads about who is “best” to use.
There is actually an American Veterinary Dental College, for veterinarians to become certified in dentistry. I’d personally like to see something like that become the accepted best practice. But demand is limited at the moment.
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