Tell me about your EORTH experiences?

[BigMama1]

I have a 23yo Hanoverian with EORTH. Started last winter with the extraction of one canine, followed by another in the fall and two more in January. Vet notes indicate two more teeth are showing signs and should be monitored.

Horse is fit and happy, working 4-5 days a week and no trouble maintaining weight. Shows no difficulty eating his hay and soaked grain. My understanding is that there’s nothing really that prevents or slows the spread of this condition, but I thought perhaps the COTH hive might have some useful tips.

[Pepsy]

My coming 26 year old horse had all of his incisors removed at 22 years of age due to EOTR. He was already retired. No problems eating, much happier after having teeth removed. He was just diagnosed with Cushings and it is now my understanding that there may be a link between the 2 conditions. I wish I had tested for Cushings sooner than I did. So I guess I would encourage you IF you ever suspect Cushings to not wait and get your horse tested.

[BigMama1]

That’s good advice, thanks. He doesn’t show any of the symptoms but it certainly can’t hurt to test.

[alterblue]

My gelding was diagnosed at age 24 and had all of his incisors removed, same as Pepsy’s horse. I also was told that it is often seen with Cushing’s, and my surgeon wanted to test for Cushing’s beforehand. We’ve also tested him since then and negative so far but it’s something we keep a close eye on.
Unfortunately there is no treatment other than removal. I would consider asking if it makes sense to remove all incisors at once rather than one or two at a time. My understanding is all will be impacted at some point and it is often easier to do it all at once rather than multiple procedures.
My horse has done great since his surgery, no issues eating and will turn 30 this year.

[BigMama1]

He had now had the middle four teeth on the top removed. When tooth #2 came out I asked if the other two should be removed at the same time and my vet said he preferred to let the one heal up before taking the next two out.

[Guyot]

Yes do it! Horses are so so much happier after removal.

[BigMama1]

Oh yes, we have. He had #3&4 out in January. The vet didn’t mention it at the time but the notes on the invoice say two more teeth have mild signs

[Texarkana]

My horse was recently diagnosed with it. Vet didn’t think we needed to extract yet, but I’m wondering if I should just get it over with? She’s only 19…

[TooManyTBs]

My horse has it, he turns 24 next week. Diagnosed at 17 with Xrays and I pulled Xrays again this fall and while it has progressed, he’s still comfortable so he’s keeping his teeth for now. Will check again at his spring floating to see how they are. I check his gums a few times per week for swelling, but so far he’s been good. My vet recommends leaving his teeth as long as he is comfortable - he is not stoic in any way, so I feel like he will be very clear if they’re bothering him. I have a few friends whose horse’s teeth have been removed, all at once, and they have had very quick and easy recoveries.

[BigMama1]

Mine is super stoic so we would never know if he’s uncomfortable. He’s doing great with the 4 out so will
Continue to have the vet check every 6 months and take their advice if more are needed.

[MapleBreeze]

I euthanized. I had a 7 year old horse that was in so much pain and she needed all of them out. It was just too expensive to have the procedure done - i think 8k at the time. Maybe different nowadays.

[BigMama1]

@MapleBreeze

euthanized. I had a 7 year old horse that was in so much pain and she needed all of them out. It was just too expensive to have the procedure done - i think 8k at the time. Maybe different nowadays.

Oh I’m so sorry to hear that. I thought it was just a senior horse disease!

[Displaced_Yankee]

Not my horse…but my landlord’s…who I helped care for (break on board for chore help situation)

He was in his mid-20’s when he had his incisors removed. Landlord said she would not do it again, more due to the horse having a difficult time recovering from the sedation. He had been colic prone and he just had to stay a few more days at the clinic.

That said…he lived for 2-3 more years in comfort on heavily soaked senior and heavily soaked alfalfa pellets. His tongue always hung out, it was adorable.

We found him down in the field one sunny fall day. We called the vet, got him up and he went down again. The vet could not identify colic as a cause and the landlord opted for comfort care and a sunset euthanasia. To be clear…no link to EORTH being the issue…or his tooth removal. Just an old horse who earned his golden pasture.

[BigMama1]

The vets were amazed at how little sedation my guy needed. He really is the worlds calmest, most stoic horse. I don’t notice any appreciable difference in the contact when I ride, but it must be more comfortable for him with the 4 diseased teeth removed.

[Training_Cupid]

Thankfully I dont have experience with EORTH but my vet said my horse shows early signs of hypercementosis. He said he’s heard some promising results using Mushroom Matrix. My vet is a man of science and very skeptical of treatments that are not backed by sufficient research - but said this is worth a try. Based on the comments some users are saying it’s helping their EORTH horses so if it’s still early in the process it might be worth a try.

Equident Matrix Dental Supplement

[saje]

I’ve just started my 23 yo on it. He was diagnosed last year with the beginnings of EORTH, and so far has no pain, inflammation, or calcification - his teeth just look odd. A local friend says she has had pretty good results with it, so I figured it’s worth a try. Fingers crossed it slows the progression!

[NaturallyHappy]

Thank you for this!!! Any idea if it is safe for an IR horse?

[Training_Cupid]

I don’t want to play vet, but some of the reviews do mention using it on IR horses. Mine’s not IR so I didn’t discuss with my vet.

[SmlHpy1]

My guy was diagnosed with EOTRH in 2019. He’s now 28 years old. He was tested for PPID at the same appt and was not positive. However, since then his ACTH level did go out of range and he’s been on prascend since summer 2021. I had xrays twice in 2019. I consulted with Dr Easley in Louisville KY (I’m in the St Louis area). He’s one of the top equine dentists and is very familiar with EOTRH. At the time he said I could leave the teeth in as it was early stages, but it was not wrong to remove them. If I went forth with extraction he would have removed all incisors in one go. My guy was diagnosed at the University of MO vet school. If they extracted they would do tops/bottoms first and the opposite 6 months later. There’s a FB group for EOTRH - interestingly more European posts there than US. . . . but still helpful. My research has shown that horses recover very well and most people wish they did it sooner. Of all the issues all of my pets have had, this is my first roadblock. I haven’t been able to bring myself to extract. I will say that it seems it typically does not impact their eating. They don’t chew with incisors so the vets claim they don’t generally go off food/forage. An easy test is to see if they can bite a carrot without you helping break it. My guy cannot. I don’t know what I’m going to do honestly. I may seek xrays this year at a closer facility to see how much they’ve progressed. I hate trailering and with my guy being 28 ( though a young and fit 28 year old) I still hesitate to trailer him too far too often. It gives me anxiety. I wish I could truly understand if he’s in pain all the time or not. I know dental pain in humans suck, but I try not to project human attributes. I tried the mushroom supplement for a while but didn’t really notice much and ended up stopping. My guy is picky and will boycott grain if he doesn’t like the supplements. I had to prioritize what he received so that one got cut.

[beowulf]

If you are just venting and don’t want advice, ignore the below. I’m sorry you are in this position, EOTRH is very hard and so misunderstood. I hope your guy is not too badly off for it.

If you want advice from someone who had a horse with EOTRH… Do the extraction sooner rather than later. It is tough to watch but it is relatively simple in terms of procedures, and they recover almost instantly. I think it is harder for US to process than it is for them to experience. Like your guy my gelding could not bite down on a carrot, or even an apple. And I realized he had been dealing with this pain a long, long time. I started to think back on when I first had to break carrots for him. I think it was his 17th birthday, since they always get carrots on their birthday. This was well before any dentist ever diagnosed him with EOTRH, and he was seen regularly by a dentist his entire life with us. As your guy gets older it will not get easier. It will get harder. It’s better to do these things as soon as we can before we/they become physiologically or pathologically too aged to recover well.