Equine Dentistry
Equine dentistry forms a significant part of the caseload in equine general practice. This work combines routine dental care, aimed at maintaining dental health and detecting early signs of disease, along with treatment of specific dental disorders.
Routine dental care is required because of the effects of domestication on dental conformation, teeth wear and the demands of riding, bitting and wearing a bridle.
The majority of routine dental care is carried out at the home yard using portable hand rasps, electric floats, flushing equipment, head torches, dental mirrors, head stands and oral endoscopy. We have a variety of dental gags to suit the very smallest and largest of patients! This equipment can all be thoroughly cleaned with antiseptic solution between uses.
Although we don’t insist on sedation at the outset, light to moderate sedation is frequently extremely helpful to facilitate thorough dental examination and effective dental care. We also want your horse, pony or donkey to have a good experience so that future dentistry is not stressful, and we also like to keep our vets and students safe! To encourage the appropriate use of sedation in our equine dentistry the cost of sedation is included in the price of our routine dental fee (£80 incl. VAT for 2024/2025).
We are also happy to carry out routine dentistry at Cambridge Equine Clinic, where we have the extra benefit of several sets of stocks. More advanced dental treatments, such as extractions, which are often time-consuming are also mainly carried out at the clinic.
All our vets have received specific training in equine dentistry and as vets are able to carry out Category 1, 2 and 3 procedures. Please be aware that untrained dental technicians are only able to legally carry out Category 1 procedures and trained Equine Dental Technicians are restricted to Category 1 and 2 procedures only. See this link for further details:
Equine Dental Technicians and other paraprofessionals - National Equine Welfare Council
Most equines require routine dental checks and rasping once or twice a year and it is often convenient and cost effective to combine these visits with annual vaccinations.
If you have any further queries about dentals or would like to book your horse in for a dental, please do not hesitate to call us on 01223 760535.
