Equine Veterinary Dentistry and Surgery

12/04/2025

Yesterday, we posted a video of a pony mare with severe dysmastication, difficulty chewing.

Like our one commenter the owner initially thought she was choked. They pulled her food, gave her Ace and Banamine and massaged her neck while waiting for their regular vet. Their vet passed a nasogastric tube and did not feel an esophageal obstruction (choke). They then did an oral exam but didnt see anything out of sorts.

They managed her with senior feed slurrys, pain meds, and some antibiotics.

After no improvement we were asked to take a second look. Little Coco was bright and had a normal physical exam. When we offered her a handful of choice hay, she looked like a kid who got a surprise piece of cake. She practically lunged at it, however once the hay was past her lips and she chewed one time her mouth popped open again in pain.

Our first look in mouth was unremarkable. That’s when Dr. Chiero started checking all the “blind spots” along the cheeks and tongue and she spotted a huge gash in her tongue about 4 inches long and at least an inch deep! 🥵😵

A small piece of tooth had fracture off, but it was still attached to the gums and pointing directly into her tongue.

Thankfully, it was easy to remove and Coco had immediate relief. She was eating much better later in the day.

No shade to her awesome regular vet, this would have been hard to spot soon after the acute fracture. At that time the tongue likely had only a small sore and the fracture piece was also small.

12/03/2025

This mare suddenly started chewing like this. What is your first plan of action and possible causes?

11/03/2025

Just putting the finishing touches on my upcoming lectures for this weekend. I am excited to share all my dental tricks and tips with your veterinarians.

Dr. Naomi Chiero will be giving three lectures on oral exam techniques, dental radiography and extractions. If you are a referring vet and will be attending the Three Rivers Symposium hosted by the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association in Mars, PA. Drop us a note in the comments. We would love to meet you in person at the event.

10/31/2025

Happy Halloween! On this day of spooks, tricks, and treats we want to share with you the unfortunate tale of two spooky horses.

Our first young lad had a mysterious incident he has yet to confess to his person. He was simply found with blood on his front legs while grazing in an odd fashion. Sadly, his two front teeth were simply gone 😲 and two other teeth were jostled. We patched up the jostled teeth, but unfortunately can't put back teeth that are missing. No one knows where they lay.

Our second victim was found in her stall with a bloody water bucket and a crooked lower jaw. Another victim of the unseen things that haunt our horses. We wired her back together and she is wearing braces for her Halloween costume.

Jaw fractures can happen when horses are kicked or fall, but more commonly they are chewing on a fence or water bucket and spook. Their body goes one way and the teeth are stuck. These two young horses unfortunately spooked at the wrong moment.

We hope you and your horses don't see any ghosts today and we have an incident free Halloween that is spook free.

10/29/2025

Check out this very young tooth. Newly erupted teeth that have just come into the mouth when the baby tooth (cap tooth) are shed have cemental cusps. These cusps wear down to a flatter surface when the upper and lower teeth come into contact. Unlike our teeth, horse teeth are still forming when they erupt. It will take several more years for this tooth to form roots and they continually change through out the horses life.

10/29/2025

Another swollen face and tooth-related fistula. This three-year-old pony is now on the mend after his extraction. His persistent swelling was non-responsive to antibiotics; thankfully, his primary vet at Countryside Animal Clinic of Wauseon did a diagnostic oral exam and radiographs to identify a tooth abscess of his newly erupted 4th premolar.

In youngsters, the tooth roots are still forming, which is why this tooth has no true roots and we can see right inside it. These long teeth sit just below the surface of the facial bones, which unfortunately makes them very susceptible to trauma. This abscess was sterile when cultured. By the time a bump forms and drainage starts, these teeth are weeks into an irreversible pulpitis, and extraction of the dead tooth is the only cure.

You can see the spindly diseased pulps attached to the tooth alongside one of the pulps that remained healthy. For full action video of the drainage during the extraction, check out the comments.

10/05/2025

10/05/2025

First time we have had the pleasure of taking one of our patients out for a drive. Our vet assistant Averie is having her first driving lesson.

10/05/2025

On Friday, we had a unique six month follow-up on one of our most involved extraction cases this year. He is having a minor set-back, which we evaluated, and then we were priveledged to see him in action. We'll post about his disease next week.

We want this post to focus on something else, the whole horse. Our work is treating horse teeth; but our purpose is restoring and maintaining health for these beautiful creatures so both horse and human can benefit.

This 4-year-old Percheron cross had severe dental disease without major outward signs. We have seen an owners choose to sell horses with these hidden problems and pass the issues on to someone else. We saw it happen this week with a different patient. A horse buyer gets a suprise down the road and the horses auffers in silence often blamed for behavioral issues that are pain related.

This Percheron’s owner chose treatment even when it was expensive. Likely limiting his return on investment in a training horse. Why? Because it was the best thing for the horse. Because in order to ask the horse to do its job, this owner knows the horse needs to be healthy. His owner is a true horseman, and this post is about gratitude for him and clients like him. During our drive we discussed matching the right horse to the right owner. The art of training young horses; where it is the human's job to anticipate what the horse will have difficulty with and be ready to guide them when they need help.

As the horse world likes to label different disciplines, groups, or breeds as bad or good, we'd like to share our observation. There are true horsemen and horsewomen who understand the partnership of horse and human in all areas and in all places in the world. Likewise, there are people mostly about themselves. We're here for the horse, no matter who owns them, and we will strive to always respect and advocate for our patient

09/30/2025

What did we learn last week at the Veterinary Dental Forum that is relevant to horse owners?

We have new data that floating in pregnancy is safe, at any time! We had previously recommended floating in the 2nd trimester as ideal, but this study showed time of gestation had no effect on pregnancy outcomes.

"There was no increase in likelihood of abortion, stillbirth, or placentitis in Thoroughbred mares which were pregnant"

What was the biggest factor in pregnancy loss? Age of the mare. Older age was associated with increased risk of stillbirth and abortion.

Broodmares should receive regularly preventative care such as proper nutrition, foot care, vaccinations, deworming, and DENTAL care. It is the best way to take care of that future baby.

09/26/2025

Dr. Chiero and Dr. Reiswig are in San Antonio this week at the Veterinary Dental Forum to receive her official Diplomate Certificate as a specialist in equine dentistry. They are also enjoying time with fellow horse tooth enthusiasts and learning how to better care for YOUR horses.

Some learning tid-bits will get posted in the following days.