House call veterinary services for companion animals & horses in the Hill City, Keystone, Custer & Rapid City area.
15/02/2025
PLEASE CONTACT our SD Legislators regarding House Bill 1176 which, if it passes, would allow ANYONE to perform dental procedures on horses! Crazy, right?!?!
This bill REMOVES equine dentistry from under veterinary medical services and allows ANYONE, even those with ZERO training to do dental work on horses as a lay floater (they refer to themselves as “equine dentists” or “equine dental practitioners”) with no overseeing regulatory board to hold them accountable and ensure they are adequately trained.
There are already a number of “equine dentists” and “equine dental practitioners” that are doing teeth on horses illegally in the state of SD (it is actually ONLY legal currently if you are a VETERINARIAN.)
As an equine (and small animal) veterinarian I am not only advocating for myself, my business and that of other equine veterinarians in the state, but also for the horse and horse owner. Dental work on horses should ONLY be performed by a veterinarian who has been through vet school and has extensive knowledge in anatomy, physiology and pharmacology and can legally purchase and use drugs that are often needed for dental work such as sedation, pain medication and antibiotics.
Lay floaters, “equine dentists” and “equine dental practitioners” cannot use or acquire ANY prescription medications or sedation legally and therefore any dental work they might perform WILL be less than the standard of care that veterinarians provide when doing dental work on horses. Even the lay floaters who have done training and certification (it’s only a few week course, by the way!) have FAR, FAR less medical knownledge and training than veterinarians (which is why we are doctors and they are not).
If House Bill 1176 passes, literally ANYONE can provide dental care for horses - your neighbor, the mailman, the high school kid down the street - anyone. I know that if this bill were to have been regarding human dentistry it would have been laughed at and thrown in the trash without a second thought. I sure wouldn’t want to go to the next door high school kid or mailman for my routine dental care and trust him/her to pull my teeth!!
PLEASE contact our SD legislators and tell them to vote NO on House Bill 1176 and keep equine dental care limited to the care of veterinarians, where it should be. Thank you!!
