Three weeks ago my horse suddenly developed a swollen mass on the side of his face (where the noseband would go) about 3"x2" and hard as a rock. It was tender to the touch, and there were no signs of a laceration or anything to indicate that it was the result of banging his face on something or getting kicked.
Our initial thought was a tooth root infection. Our regular vet is at a horse show, so they sent out a Dr. I’d never used. She lanced the mass and nothing came out, she said it was hard and felt like bone. She took xrays, which at first she said looked normal, but once she got back to the office and was able to see the xrays on a larger screen, she said she thought it looked like a tooth root was infected, but she wasn’t positive. She started him on Sulfa and said she’d recheck in two weeks, and do external drilling if the mass hadn’t shrunk :eek:.
He has now been on antibiotics for 2 1/2 weeks (she is coming to recheck next week) but we’ve seen no change. Horse is eating normally, he is normal under saddle, no fever, no drainage, no smelly breath, no other signs of a tooth root abscess.
My gut keeps telling me that it’s something else. I do NOT want her to drill a hole in my horses face without being positive it is a tooth root abscess, so we are obviously getting a second opinion. In the meantime, does anyone know of anything else that this could be? My trainer and I are stumped.
