Tooth Removal Recovery Tips?

[carman_liz]

Senior (25+yrs old) mare is getting her loose tooth pulled tomorrow morning, any suggestions for what I need to do while she heals? I have googled and will follow vet n dentists instructions of course, but google talks about ‘while your horse is at the hospital’ type things. It is one upper back tooth and is being done here at my place.

She already on previcox and is getting her hay pellets and her alfalfa hay soaked. Anything else I can do during her healing & recovery to help her out or less than obvious things to look out for?

[trubandloki]

My understanding is that they heal up quickly and they do not seem to care. They lack the mental ‘oh my gawd, I have a hole in my mouth, I can not eat anything ever again’ feelings that we humans have when we get a tooth pulled.

Jingles for a quick and easy extraction for your new old lady.

[skipollo]

My horse had a canine removed several years ago after he fractured it. The removal was rough on me but he was super sedated and did fine.

The recovery was easy. He was on SMZs for about a month because the fractured tooth was infected, and I rinsed the tooth hole 1x a day with a very diluted betadine/water mix and then plain warm water. That’s basically it, my understanding is mouth stuff heals fast and pretty easily.

[GoodTimes]

My mom’s gelding (19yo) started having stinky breath in the spring. Regular vet came out to check it out, he was due for a dentistry anyway. Turned out a tooth was fractured and would need to be removed surgically, something that she wasn’t able to do. Instructions were to flush daily with diluted betadine and we booked the removal for May. Surgeon had to reschedule once or twice and the tooth was finally removed in July.
Recovery was easy, 10 or so days of SMZs and a couple days of bute.

He never acted like anything was painful during those four months, or post-op. Definitely didn’t lose weight, could still eat hay and carrots.

[SusanO]

I am making the assumption that the mare is 29 as opposed to 19 in which case there is probably very little root left to the tooth. So the extraction won’t be that big a deal. When my mare had a fractured tooth my DVM dentist wanted me to squirt out her mouth with a weak solution of chlorhexidine and water but we did not extract the tooth. Your vet can tell you if antibiotics are called for. When my very old pony had some abscessed teeth removed there was practically no root and the DVM dentist did not prescribe antibiotics. The pony was happy to have those teeth gone and did not have complications.

[BigMama1]

Flush often with saline and a giant syringe. Keeping food from getting packed in the hole until it heals up is the best thing you can do

[findthedistance]

If the tooth is already loose, esp with a horse of that age, there’s probably not going to be much aftercare. I’ve had a vet reach in to check out a loose tooth and return with tooth in hand (no tools, no effort) more than once. No bute, no abx, no drama. Since it’s an upper molar, gravity is your friend.

My mare had an extraction in the vet clinic in her mid-teens to resolve an infection. They packed the cavity with dental putty so nothing would get in there while it healed. The packing was removed by my farm vet after 10 days or so, at which point things had healed so well that it was being pushed out anyway. She was on bute for a few days and an antibiotic cocktail for a month, but the latter was for the osteomyelitis, not the extraction.

[carman_liz]

It is loose, but it was not loose enough for our vet to just yank out when she found it.

My question though is how do you flush the hole? Like how do you get your hand up there, find the hole, and get it flushed without your hand getting chomped? It may be a silly question but I have never done it before and I type for a living and no one else in my house does squat for the animals.

I have a huge aversion to ever getting my hands hurt, its a phobia almost. I had a tiny piece of hay get in my finger pad in the spring, it basically abcessed and popped out thru my nail edge. I couldn’t use that hand it hurt so badly, never again…I just bought 20 bales of hay last Sat, found cockleburs in one bale and sold all 20 yesterday to a guy for goats, thats how scared/phobic I am of getting my fingers hurt again lol.

[trubandloki]

@carman_liz

My question though is how do you flush the hole? Like how do you get your hand up there, find the hole, and get it flushed without your hand getting chomped? It may be a silly question but I have never done it before and I type for a living and no one else in my house does squat for the animals.

It is not a silly question and I am sure if you explain your worries when the vet is there, they will gladly help you learn whatever technique you need to know to do what you need to do.

Grabbing their tongue and pulling it out to the side is the easiest way to get into their mouth.

Since it is an upper you might not need to flush it.

[PaddockWood]

My dental vet plugs the hole with a wax piece. I didn’t have any flushing to do so possible you won’t either. And if you’re curious…the plug just falls out in time. My new guy came to me with a bad tooth and he’s done so well through it all. My old guy had a tooth pulled in the last year too and it went well. Same thing - the plug just fell out and tissue fills in the hole.

[MorganMaresVT]

My now-28 year old mare has had 3 molars removed so far. Your vet will send you home with some antibiotics for a few days, maybe directions to not feed hay for a day or so. There may be a little bit of bloody saliva, but it’s not likely to be something to worry about unless it is a steady, thick flow. I can’t say my mare had any specific recovery needs.

Going forward, you may find that some food materials want to pack in the space between teeth, depending which tooth comes out. And sadly for these older horses, the decline in “usable” teeth can start to accelerate pretty quickly once it starts, so just be vigilant about watching how your horse eats and keep up with the 6-month dental exams with someone qualified to do so.

[IPEsq]

No need to stick your hand up there. Use something like this or a big syringe with a long metal drenching tip. Fill with water or saline and squirt. You just want to keep food from packing in there badly for the first little bit.

Amazon.com : Equinez Tools Pistol Grip Dose 300ml Syringe Large, Stainless Steel...

[carman_liz]

Vet gave me a big old syringe and a half gallon of chlorhex, the tooth popped right out. Barely any root, no smzs or antibiotics needed, super easy peasy she is already back out grazing

[CHT]

Something to ask your vet is if they think the Previcox is the right anti-inflammatory. If not, they may want you to stop it a few days out so you can more safely switch to something else.

I fed soaked beet pulp and alfalfa pellets after the surgery, and then switched to soaked cubes, before going back on soft hay. I also fed smaller portions (had a few feed tubs) to reduce (in my mind anyway), the risk of choke because they may not chew properly (sore gums and jaw).

If paranoid, take their temperature a few days out to make it easier to tell if they have an infection brewing. Mouth infections can brew a unique slew of bacteria, and even on standard antibiotics can cause an issue.

[carman_liz]

She has everything soaked as it is thank goodness. But the tooth came right out and all is well as far as her mouth goes

[ZenasGirl]

Ditto to all the recommendations above. Follow the vet instructions and it should heal up fine.
It’s 2.5 years later for me. My horse was 14 when he had a molar removed. The one thing I underestimated was the impact of the stress of surgery and a clinic stay. We’re battling chronic Lyme and EPM which seem to date back to the stress.
If I could do it over I would supplement with a gut support like Relyne or GutX and an immune booster like vitamin E.

[Jarpur]

I had an aged horse, who at 31 had outlived several of his molars. A veterinarian who specialized in the oldsters “pulled” eight. I put pulled in quotes because, as mentioned in an earlier post, there were really no roots left.

We just had an equine dentist out for a visit, and a neighbor had her 32 year old horse’s teeth done – he has a couple of these, too, and the dentist called them “nubbins.”

Aftercare on my horse didn’t include antibiotics (no abscess or infection), and the vet simply had me rinse my gelding’s mouth out with plain water multiple times a day. It was in early fall, weather still warm to hot here, so normal tap temperature water, not warmed.