Veterinary Equine Dental Care

21/08/2024

After many hours dedicated to studying and sitting through multiple exams, I am proud to now be a member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in Equine Dentistry.

19/08/2024

This beautiful old boy Onika, suffers from tooth resorption or "EOTRH". It tends to affect only the incisors and canine teeth of horses 15 years and over.

Unfortunately there is no current prevention or known cure besides extraction. These teeth are very painful so he will be feeling much better soon with these sore teeth out.

27/07/2024

This beautiful girl came for a visit to have an infected tooth removed.

After x-rays confirmed a tooth root abscess was present, the best treatment option was extraction, which will relieve her from ongoing pain and discomfort.

You can see on the chewing surface of the tooth that there is food packing into the pulps (or live part of the tooth). Which creates a highway for bacteria to get to the root of the tooth and set up an infection.

She will be feeling much better and back to her old self soon.

20/07/2024

Was great to meet all the lovely horses and people at the RDA last week 😊

Not long now !

We can't wait to see you all back at
RDA Raymond Terrace & Lower
Hunter this week.

Here's a little bit of what's been happening while you were away.

Veterinary Equine Dental Care

18/02/2024

I don't like having to extract teeth, but sometimes it is necessary to help our horses.
This beautiful mare had an obvious lump on her face, which revealed a fractured tooth with a concurrent infection at the root tip.
The broken piece was displaced, causing cuts to her cheek, and she was very reluctant for me to touch the area at all.

The X-rays showed a darker halo around one of the roots, indicating bone loss and infection.
This tooth, the 107, also had dead/open pulps filled with feed, which allows bacteria to track up to the roots. The pulp cavities are where the blood vessels and nerves of the tooth should be located.

She should be feeling much better with this one gone.

Remember that after an extraction, it is important to keep up with regular dentals, as now there is a space that the opposing tooth can erupt into. At regular intervals, your equine dentist can file this tooth down to prevent any further secondary issues.

10/02/2024

What else to do on the weekend but try out my new awning! With the help of my mare Nina of course :)
Should help on those 40 degree days I hope. 🏖

09/01/2024

Extraction case late last year. This poor boy was suffering from a tooth root infection. You can see the blunted root and draining hole where the infection has burst out the side.

The needles are sitting into the dead pulps of the tooth which was what I could initially see on oral exam, which prompted X-rays and ended with extraction. He should be feeling much happier now without this aching tooth.

14/12/2023

Hope you and all our four legged friends have a lovely Christmas 🎄

07/11/2023

An interesting case I saw the other day of a rotated tooth.
This particular tooth is the last permanent tooth to erupt into the mouth and sometimes there is just not enough space for it to come in normally.
Sometimes you may notice a lump on the face or jaw from impacted teeth. Or in this case the tooth managed to come through but has twisted itself 45 degrees to fit.

03/06/2023

Nothing teeth related, just photo bombing because I was hanging out with this cutie yesterday.

21/05/2023

Interesting case this week.
Wolf teeth are usually fairly routine to extract but this one proved to be very difficult.

The small broken piece was all that you could see below the gum. It was causing problems with the horse when ridden so we decided to go ahead with extraction.
After xrays, pain relief and sedation we were able to get this huge root out showing a bifurcation which was really anchoring it in place!

In a few weeks this horse will be much more comfortable with her bit.

28/04/2023

Recently I've had a few cases of EOTRH and from talking with horse owners not many people are aware of this condition. It stands for equine odontoclastic tooth resorption and hypercementosis, which is why we call it EOTRH for short.

It tends to affect older horses 15+ years and it affects the incisors and canine teeth. For reasons which are currently unknown the horses own immune system (ondontoclasts) start to attack the roots of these teeth leading to resorption and holes. This makes the teeth frail and at risk of fracture and infection. The body trys to hold onto these teeth by laying down extra cementum (hypercementosis) but this doesn't work and leads to a thickening or bulging around the roots.

All of this change happens under the gumline making it difficult to diagnose early on. X-rays are the only way to definitively diagnose the condition but there can be some clinical indications such as a change in jaw shape, thickening of roots, small pimples or pustules near the roots. When this is seen x-rays are recommended.

EOTRH is a painful condition as it progresses and often horses will still eat to survive but they will often be poor doers or suffer weight loss. Currently there is no prevention and there is no cure, although there is hope that research will find an answer in the future. At this stage treatment is to alleviate the pain and that is by extracting affected teeth.

The x-rays in the post show resorptive lesions (white arrows) and you can see some of the teeth are fractured as well.

14/09/2022

Something different today, I had the pleasure of doing teeth on some gorgeous donkeys.
They were little angels for their checkup 😇.

25/05/2022

14/05/2022

Huge thanks to Dr Oliver Liyou of EVDS in Grafton and all the fantastic tutors after a big week of learning and improving my dentistry skills. 🐴🦷😁

24/01/2022

They come in all sizes, so cute 😁

17/01/2022

When is a cap not a hat?
When it's a horses baby tooth of course!

The green arrow is showing a retained cap (or baby/deciduous tooth) on this 3 year old. It had smelly trapped food underneath it and definitely needed to come out before causing any damage to the underlying gum and newly erupting permanent molar.

The pink arrow is showing how a recently erupted tooth looks before it is worn down flat by the opposing lower tooth.

14/12/2021

Wolf teeth extraction today. Wolf teeth are a small remnant tooth that serve no function in our horses. They sit in front of the first molar and cause discomfort when using a bit. We regularly remove them to prevent issues in the future. Not to be confused with the canine teeth!

02/08/2021

Here we have an older horse that was struggling to keep weight on.
These hooks (arrows) on the 1st molars were digging down into the opposite jaw causing quite a large sore that looked painful.

He was still eating which shows how resilient they are, but you never know what's going on inside a horses mouth until you have a good look.
He should be more comfortable now but due to their size it will take a few treatments to get back to normal.

18/05/2021

A comparison of two horses of similar age showing why it's necessary to have a thorough dental exam of molars.
The one on the left is normal, the one on the right has abnormal placement of permanent teeth. Unfortunately this will lead to early periodontal and gum disease and she will need extra attention throughout her life.

27/01/2021

Unusual case of a young racehorse who knocked a baby tooth out last year. Now the baby tooth that was next to it has worked it's way out so the root was exposed.

We removed it as it was loose and causing an infection. He should be more comfortable now and hopefully the adult teeth will grow down without issue.

18/01/2021

My patient today will be happier after removing this broken tooth. He was still eating well and the only symptom was packing feed in his cheek. Horses are prey animals and tend to show minimal signs of discomfort even when there is a big problem.

The molar was broken almost in half with feed tracking up one of the roots, big risk of tooth root abscess and pain for the horse. He will do well now that the tooth is out.