Friday, September 13, 2013

The Tooth Fairy

I tried a new equine dentist this year...actually finding a new one with a good reputation and a decent price is why I am so late getting my horse's teeth done.

This is my 4th equine dentist since I moved out here. Ugghh! The first one was a total fiasco...A vet I wouldn't use again if he was the last vet on earth. Then I got a guy who fixed the first dink's screw-up and I liked him. I used him for my ordinary floats. Then I used another guy who came highly recommended but his prices are just ridiculous. Call me cheap, but I really do not think that the starting cost for a regular 20-30 minute float should cost $150. I don't care where you live...It's too much. I'd use that guy again for a problem case for sure...but not for ordinary work. So it was back to my other guy...but he has kind of disappeared.

I checked prices with the vet I usually use, I know he's good, but again with the cost. Seriously people...These prices are outrageous...I mean we are talking $20 in meds and 30 minutes of your time. Is that really worth $150?

Okay, so rant over...

The same bunch that got chiro work got dental work. The last 2 are scheduled in for next week.

I anticipated problems in Frosty's mouth. I have been noticing that he chews with his head tilted and often drops gobs. Outside of some edges that needed smoothing...there was nothing wrong with Frosty's teeth-no waves, no high points, nuthin'. Because I pointed his chewing issues, the vet checked his jaw motion and found that Frosty has a limited range of motion flexing his jaws to the right. There is a catch in his actual bone structure that has nothing to do with his teeth. The vet suggested an old injury...but this just showed up in the last couple of years and Frosty has not suffered an injury to his face...so I dunno. It's something I will definitely be talking to Dr. K, the equine chiro about in the near future.

Bugs was pretty good. Like Frosty, he just had a few edges that needed smoothing out and I asked the vet to grind his canines down a tish. They were longer than I like and one of them had a sharp edge on it, which always caught my finger when I was bridling him. Problem solved.

Moon was the worst of the lot. His uppers looked decent, just needed the outside edges smoothed, but apparently he has some soft teeth in his uppers...the teeth are still there, luckily, but that led to some significant high spots on the corresponding lower teeth and he was showing some outside sheering the full length of both lower jaws. I have no idea why Moon has such a terrible mouth. He didn't get it from his sire...none of the other siblings have it and his mother had a good mouth. But man, oh man...Moon's is just crap. I'm praying Shooter doesn't have the same problem...he's got the same narrow jaw that Moon has. Guess we'll find out next week. :-/

The most startling thing was Buddy's teeth weren't all that bad. The worst of it was some decent sized hooks on the front of his uppers and corresponding hooks on his rear lowers. The rest of his teeth just needed a light smoothing. The big news is....We got his tattoo!...Or most of it. I cannot make out the last digit, but the first bit is definitely Z156. I immediately looked up the corresponding birth year for Z...and that makes Buddy a 1996 model (17y/o). I have filled out the request form with the Jockey Club and will be anxiously waiting to hear back from them.

You know, it's kind of funny...Dr. K...immediately noted Buddy's quality and his good points. He didn't think I was crazy at all for trying to bring this horse back. The vet...He didn't say much, but I got the distinct feeling he DID think I was crazy. LOL. He checked Buddy over pretty good before he gave him any meds and he only dosed him lightly. I think he was praying the whole time that the poor horse wouldn't fall over dead. I assured him Buddy was tougher than he looked. For this horse to survive as long as he did, in the shape he was in...He ain't no wuss. He's one tough cookie.

3 comments:

Crystal said...

I always think its interesting how different horses mouths can be, My bailey has a slight wave but it dont bother here at all and My Disco horse was 17 first time she had her teeth done and he hardly did anything said they were good, wish they all were like that

C-ingspots said...

The price for a good dental is usually not about the cost of the drug, or the time it takes to do it. It's primarily the equipment and the carbide burrs that causes the procedure to be more expensive. The burrs need to be replaced more often than you'd think and are not cheap.

AKPonyGirl said...

At least you have some choice in who does your dental work! The only vet I would trust with my horses is not taking any new clients. But there is an equine dentist from NM who comes up every summer and is excellent. She has done my horse's teeth before. The down side? She was running one more day of dentals before she packed up to haul to America and she's a 4 hour drive away. So I loaded up the horse and went. Eight hours in the truck, an hour at the clinic, $230 later Luna can eat again!