Equine Dental Exams and Floats

I have written before on the importance of getting horses' teeth checked regularly. All my horses over the 26+ years have had dental exams and some level of teeth floating - which is basically correcting the uneven surfaces of the teeth.

As a horse chews forage or other feed in like a circular motion with their upper and lower jaw, uneven surfaces of the teeth can and usually result. This creates sharp points or waves that starts to decrease their ability to chew feed properly, and uncorrected can cause the teeth to cut the inside of the mouth causing pain, and can show up in many other ways such as resistance to biting, riding or turning/rotating their head. You may see partially chewed feed dropping from their mouths or laying on the ground or in the bottom of their feeder. Bad teeth can also cause partially chewed feed to be swallowed increases chances of a intestinal blockage (colic).

The actually floating of the horse's teeth involves using a speculum to open the horse's mouth then a hand rasp or a power rasp is used to draw across the surface of the teeth to correct the issues. It takes training and skill to know what you are seeing in the exam and to use the tools to correct the teeth. It may be hard to find an equine dentist, but if you can find a good one, it's worth the relatively small cost for a dental exam and floating. I have seen non-sedation floating, where the equine dentist works on the horse's mouth without the benefit of the horse being sedated and did not like what I saw. I have viewed videos of what was claimed to be non-sedation floating as well with better results, but it hard to trust videos, and I just can't imagine a horse getting their teeth floated without sedation. While some states do not allow equine dentists that are not Veterinarians to sedate horses, I think it's more common than not for some equine dentists to access sedation drugs and use them. I prefer a Veterinarian to sedate my horses and float their teeth, or to sedate and monitor the horse for a non-Vet equine dentist.

For twenty years or so, I have had my Veterinarian to do the floats, but this year she has partnered with her daughter who is a equine dentist and body work specialist. These are two of the most awesome people anyone could every meet. As a bonus Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF), also known as Magnawave therapy, was performed on my 4 year old with the missing lateral patella ligaments.

Pulsed Electromagnetic Field therapy or PEMF, if I am not mistaken, was pioneered by NASA, and uses electromagnetic fields applied through tubes, paddles or mats to increased circulation, decrease inflammation and pain, and enhance cellular repair. I've actually had it done on myself and know it to be effective. It's not a cure, but a therapy. The picture above is Magnawave being applied across the withers and shoulder of my 4 year old, but he also had the Magnawave therapy on his stifle and upper hind legs as well, where he has inflammation in the patella joint due to the missing lateral patella ligaments bilaterally. Horses stand well for this treatment and in the past I have had horse's drop their heads, drool and seem to fall asleep, so I'm pretty sure this therapy works.

      This is the Equine Dentist and Body Care Specialist, She works out         of the greater Phoenix area but does travel like she did coming to El         Paso to service 7 or 8 days worth of clients. If you are going to                 contact her, I suggest text messages.

       Casey Orduno
       915-543-1455
       KC Equine Dentistry and Body Care, LLC