Savvy Equine Dentistry

04/21/2024

Have your horses had a dental done? Did you know younger horses, from 2 years to 5 years should have their teeth looked at every 6 months? Just like humans and other animals, horses have caps (baby teeth) that should shed off as the adult teeth erupt. Sometimes those caps can remain on the adult teeth resulting in discomfort and eruption disturbances on the opposing surfaces. Another good reason to have their teeth checked every 6 months is to ensure the adult teeth are erupting in the correct positions and to take off the sharp edges that can cause discomfort along the tongue and cheeks for the best training experience for horse and rider.
As the warmer weather and riding weather approach, make sure your horse is ready to perform at their best ability.

05/23/2020

Let's talk about Wolf teeth. Wolf teeth are the little teeth in front of the premolars (cheek teeth) that serve no useful purpose for the horse. When ridden with a bit, the horse can seem to act sensitive in the mouth, causing the horse to rear up, shake his head, not want to turn a certain way, head shaking and so on. Most colts will have their wolf teeth extracted when they are gelded. Females can have wolf teeth as well. Sometimes they erupt later on.
It is essential that you have your young horses going into training examined by a professional. This will ensure you that they are comfortable in the mouth and will make training a much better experience for your horse, the trainer, and owner.

02/10/2020

The past two weekends I have visited some great horses to perform dentals. One group I have seen before and they just needed a routine float. The other group of horses has not seen a dentist in a very long time. They were aged horses, so they had a long time to develop the issues they had. It is so important to have your horses checked by a dentist yearly from an early age. The routine floats dont take nearly as long as a float needed to fix malocclusions. When your horse has major dental issues, it can cost more in terms of vet bills, dental costs, and feed costs. I will need to re visit the aged horses with issues more often than the horses that just need a routine float. You owe it to your horse to have him/her as comfortable as you would like to be.

12/16/2016

This is what can result from never having your horses teeth checked and worked on!

30 yr old mare thats never had dental care.

12/14/2016

I floated a 3 and a half year old filly today. The owner reported she was eating with her head sideways and dropping feed. I was able to take out a 208 cap with just my fingers. She had very sharp points along her cheeks and tongue and had discoloration and scrapes from the sharp singula. Once the horse was finished the owner gave her a cookie and she chewed it just as a normal horse would. Her owner was thrilled and said she was eating so much better. Although this picture doesn't show how sharp the teeth were it still shows the shape of the new permanent teeth and the variation of eruption times. It is so important to have your horse's teeth floated properly every year, even from an early age. Some horses may require more frequent floating. If you don't believe your horse needs their teeth floated then I will come open up their mouth and see for myself. I'll even let you see what I see and explain why your horse will need a float. Call me at 580-484-0223. I am available any time.

11/30/2016

FEEDBACK REQUESTED: At what age do you think a horse should start having his/her teeth floated?

11/25/2016

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a wonderful time with family and ate great food!

10/24/2016

This is how I chose to make my living! Dentistry is so important for your horse! I will be charging a discounted price to the first 10 clients who call to make an appointment! Call me at 580-484-0223 to schedule your horse(s)!

10/19/2016

It is the middle of October and still the temperatures are getting into the 90s! Winter is coming soon and your horses will need to properly consume as many calories as possible to keep warm. Proper teeth alignment and occlusion are very important for your horse to grind up his/her food so the body can absorb nutrients. Horses chew 40,000 to 50,000 times a day! Sharp points cutting the cheeks and tongue can make consuming hay, grass, and grain painful for a horse. Even if your horse is "fat" he can still have malocclusions that can lead to weight loss that we all know is hard to reverse. So before the cold weather gets here have your horses teeth checked! Give me a call at 580-484-0223 to set up an appointment. I can come any time that is convenient for you!

10/12/2016

And after 4 weeks of training we all passed!

10/12/2016

Being an Equine Dental Technician can be dangerous sometimes. As I was checking progress on a 106 premolar my finger was bitten, resulting in only half of my fingernail missing. It was my fault as I did not pay attention to how I was meeting the mouth open with my other hand. Another way to prevent this is to use a speculum! I didn't let a missing fingernail stop me from learning, the following day I hand floated about 7 horses.

10/12/2016

This horse had a loose tooth that needed to come out. Amy and I worked together to carefully pull the infected tooth. Kelli had the job of holding the horse, the head can get really heavy after a while! Our instructors were there to guide us and encourage us to perform the extraction.