Kentucky Equine Veterinary Dental Specialists, LLC

02/14/2025

We’re ending the week strong with another interesting case!

This is a 20 year old Thoroughbred mare who was just diagnosed with EOTRH (Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis). In the attached photos, you can see she has begun to show some of the common clinical signs of this condition:
- A pustule (draining tract/abscess) at 303
- Petechial lesions (small red or purple spots that appear on the gums)
- A proliferation of irregular cementum around the roots. This causes the base of the teeth at the gums to appear bulbous.

What do you think the next step and prognosis is for this mare?

02/11/2025

A physical exam prior to sedation is crucial to ensure your horse is healthy for their dental work. Here Dr. Rainbow discusses the different aspects of a physical exam and why you need to be aware of what your horse may have going on internally.

02/09/2025

Dear Fellow Kentuckians,
Outside of trying to be a well informed voter, I have remained outside of the politics. Recently Sen. Robin Webb of Grayson, KY has decided to craft Senate Bill 69 that will be seen during the current legislative session in Frankfort. This bill legalizes lay floating in the state of Kentucky and with it, open a huge series of problems.

This is a tragedy for our profession. A critical area of veterinary medicine is being relegated to untrained, unprofessional, and unsupervised laymen under the umbrella of legalization and protection provided by the State of Kentucky.
At a meeting last year of concerned veterinarians, we were told by representatives of the KVMA and KBVE that due to the poor legislative support for the new revised KY Veterinary Practice Act, a single senator (Robin Webb) was going to block its passage unless equine dentistry was excluded. The senator and several members of the KVMA Board have a low opinion of this area of practice. I feel like some practitioners are still under the impression that equine dentistry and floating teeth are at the same level of science and professional care as in the 1950s. We were told at that this meeting, that regulations for equine dentistry should follow the Texas legislation and not limit lay equine dental care. Texas is a disaster in this regard.

With this proposed legislation, the State of KY is allowing non-veterinarians to present themselves to the public as Allied Animal Healthcare Professionals, without being able to provide any care outside of floating teeth. It has been shown over the last 20 years that floating teeth does not diagnose or treat any dental problems or disease. The public has the false impression that when these people have worked on their horses, the result is a healthy mouth. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Recognition and certification or “license” as an Allied Animal Healthcare Professional, gives horse owners of KY the impression that the state is sanctioning these lay peoples’ work and that they are qualified to provide dental care. While I agree that some individuals who are not veterinarians may be capable of floating teeth, they should not be recognized or certified without training and testing. The proposed statute says that anyone working for the last 5 years won't even be required to test! That is a terrible endorsement!

During several hearings that I have attended, I have been told by these “qualified” providers that they need to have the horse sedated to examine the mouth and float the teeth. This requires a veterinarian to be involved because of the use of controlled substances and other medications that need to be administered for proper restraint. With this caveat, this is truly veterinarian medicine and surgery.

Interestingly, veterinary technicians to be licensed in KY must have 2-3 years of higher education. They then must work under the employment and supervision of a licensed veterinarian. This proposed legislation would effectively allow Allied Animal to work outside the client/patient relationship and unsupervised.

I am disappointed in our profession for allowing this to happen. I fear the horses and their owners will pay a high price for less than high-quality professional dental care. It seems to be politics rather than good government that has placed the Kentucky horse population and the veterinarians who care for them in a bad position.

In order to fight this ridiculous bill, please contact your state senator ASAP using the following link. https://legislature.ky.gov/legislators/pages/default.aspx

02/06/2025

Following up yesterday's post: This appliance was placed on a 4 month old foal with a Class 2 malocclusion, aka parrot mouth!

The foal's upper incisors were projected about 2cm ahead of the lower incisors, commonly referred to as an overjet. Additionally, the upper incisor occlusal table was about 1cm below the upper incisor table, called an overbite.

Stay tuned as we have some really cool cases to share with you, but if there's something you want to see specifically, let us know!

02/06/2025

Happy Wednesday! Who wants to guess what this orthodontic appliance may be used for?

Bonus points if you know at what age we try to catch and correct these cases!

02/03/2025

KEVDS proudly sees clients of all shapes and sizes, including the "Certified Cutest Resident" of Kalarama Farm

Patients like Sinatra here definitely put Dr. Rainbow and Dr. Thornbury's yoga skills to the test!

01/11/2025

It was (and still is!) a chilly week in Kentucky 🥶 We're lucky that on weeks like this, we have barns that we can still do work in - provided we can safely travel!

01/03/2025

Happy Friday, everyone! We hope you've had a lovely holiday season and a great start to 2025. Kentucky Equine Veterinary Dental Specialists, LLC has had a fantastic first 6 months, and we're so thankful to all of our clients for helping to make that happen!!

We'll be posting a lot more content in the coming months, so what would you like to see?
We're going to start off with some staff introductions shortly, which will be exciting 😀 Is there anything you'd like to know about us - within reason, of course 😅 - how many miles we do a day, favorite Icecream flavor, our best veterinary related memory, what bought us into this very specialized and specific field of work... ask away & I'll do my best to get you some answers!

10/13/2024

Proud to sponsor the Long Run Woodford Hounds Hunter Pace today! Beautiful day for 🏇 across Shaker Village!

10/12/2024

Proud to be sponsoring the Central Kentucky Riding for Hope Tack Sale this morning at the Kentucky Horse Park! We hope to see a bunch of our Retired Racehorse competitors out here. Also if you are looking for a deal, check out our gift certificate in the Makers Mark Secretariat Center Auction!

https://app.galabid.com/brunchandbubblesx/items/4b336635-1915-425f-be93-3dcb0b4d362e?backPath=%2Fbrunchandbubblesx%2Fitems%3Fsearch%3DKentucky%2520equine%2520veterinary&from=4b336635-1915-425f-be93-3dcb0b4d362e

10/08/2024

Hey Friends!
We did it again and are supporting the Secretariat Center with another $250 gift card for KEVDS services. You can use this for routine work, surgeries, or outstanding invoices! Check it out and support a great cause!

$250 of equine veterinary dental services provided by Kentucky Equine Veterinary Dental Specialists. Expires Dec 31, 2025.

09/12/2024

09/12/2024

Dr. Helio Vasco hard at work extracting infected mandibular cheek teeth with draining tracts out the mandible under the watchful guidance of Dr. Jack Easley Equine Dentistry

09/07/2024

TOBA is having an auction and Kentucky Equine Veterinary Dental Specialists donated a $500 Gift Certificate.

Bid Now at through the link below. Bidding ends at 7:45PM Tonight!!

https://wedoauctions.com/bidapp/main.php?slug=toba24&sid=d2fc17124b0f597597f3f69a2dd8482e0c435810bc3df69eec18aa6972c5ce51

08/28/2024

The Masterson Station Equestrian Trust fundraising auction is going on now and ends August 30th! Kentucky Equine Veterinary Dentistry has donated a $200 gift certificate.

Bid here to raise money for an incredible cause!

Auction item '32. Equine Veterinary Dentistry - $200 in Services' hosted online at 32auctions.