When was your horse’s last dental checkup?

November 10, 2020

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Scroll down for an exclusive Dental Month offer!

Regular dental care is a vital part of good horse husbandry, and just like people, all horses should have a complete dental examination performed at least once a year.

Dental problems can have a negative effect on performance, behaviour and overall health. Some signs that could indicate an underlying dental problem include:

Behavioural problems
Weight loss or poor body condition
Quidding (dropping partially chewed food out of the mouth)
Bit resistance or head tossing
Excessive salivation
Bad breath
Swelling of the face or jaw
Green or yellow smelly nasal discharge

However, as a prey animal, horses are very good at hiding any sort of dental pain, so you won’t necessarily know that anything is wrong in your horse’s mouth until the problem is very severe and painful.

This is why it is so important to ensure regular and thorough dental examinations are performed. A thorough visual and manual examination must involve: sedation, a dental gag, light, and dental mirror, in order to carefully assess each and every tooth in the mouth.

Abnormalities that we may identify include:

Sharp, overgrown teeth, often with associated cheek or tongue ulcers
Abnormal wear e.g. wave mouth
Missing teeth
Fractured or diseased teeth
Extra teeth
Dental caries
Periodontal (gum) disease
Diastema (gaps between teeth) and feed packing

So if it’s been a while since we last asked your horse to “open wide”, please give us a call to arrange a checkup.

Our vets have a wealth of dentistry knowledge for both small and large animals. Our services include pre-anesthetic bloods, pain relief, fluid therapy, and experienced anaesthetic monitoring. For equine dental consultations, we can come to you. We have safe facilities to undertake dental examinations in horses both in-clinic and mobile.

Each of our veterinary clinics has state-of-the-art dental facilities and equipment, and we pride ourselves in offering compassionate nursing and veterinary care. We are personally invested in each one of our patients. Make a booking today and get our exclusive equine dental offer.