Who says chickens can’t ride?! Here’s a little video to cheer your Wednesday up. This is our technician, Ashley’s Shetland pony with his chicken friend.
Diastema & Infindibular Carrie with feed packing
To add onto last week's post on performing periodontal and endodontic exams, we offer the latest technological advances to examine all crucial aspects of the equine mouth. To perform a thorough periodontal exam, we have access to a dental camera which gives us important information and possible pathology regarding your horses oral health. Examining the gingiva and surrounding tissues is a crucial part of the periodontal exam. Horses teeth should be tightly packed together. Spaces can develop between horses teeth, which are called diastema. Food can get packed between teeth which can lead to gum disease. Advanced gum disease can lead to gum recession and horizontal bone loss, which is irreversible. If a painful periopocket is found, we can clean out the pocketing with an air abrasion unit. If the pocket is deep or the tooth is loose, we would recommend radiographs to determine viability of the tooth in question. In this short video clip, you can see the start of feed packing between teeth, called diastema. Our dental camera also helps us perform endodontic exams, which involve the structures of each tooth. Infindibular carries can be seen more easily when assessing your horses endodontic health with our dental camera. In this video clip, you can see an infindibular carrie with feed packing into it. Radiographs are then usually recommended to assess the best treatment plan for your horse. "Pulling of the tongue and cheek" method to assess and examine a horses oral health is not a very good way to examine the mouth. Painful pathology is missed in the back of the mouth using this method. Utilizing sedation, and a speculum to open the horse's mouth is ideal and crucial. With our camera, exams are much more thorough and precise this way. It is crucial to thoroughly examine your horses mouth. Prevention is much better then treatment. There is more to equine oral health then just simply floating and balancing all teeth. If you have any questions regarding your horse
Sierra, after shoe application, seems a lot happier. Four weeks later, the shoes are still on! Many thanks to farrier Heather Richard who did a fantastic job!
Video of the periodontal scope in action. Note the difference between the healthy tooth and the one to be filled!
