Dental care in the horse is an important part of their primary care programme. Each of our first opinion practice vets has a full mouth speculum for safe and thorough oral examination, head torch, motorised equipment and a full array of rasps fitted with tungsten carbide blades for efficient and effective rasping. Our vets are able to administer intravenous sedation or painkillers and use local anaesthetic techniques to minimise the stress to nervous animals. Most routine dentistry and some minor dental surgical techniques (eg. removal of Wolf teeth) can be performed on our clients’ premises. Ancillary diagnostic services such as dental radiography or oral endoscopy for the investigation of dental problems can also be performed at the client’ premises in many cases.
We recommend that your horse’s mouth and teeth are examined every 6-12 months depending on their age, dental history and oral conformation. This is often done at the same time as their annual vaccinations or at the horse’s annual health check.
Animals that require more advanced dental care, investigations or surgery can be managed at the hospital where our RCVS and ECVS surgical specialists can perform standing oral extractions, remove cheek teeth under general anesthesia by repulsion or buccotomy techniques and manage dental related paranasal sinus infections.
