VeTeRINaRY
Check your horse’s dentist before your horse’s teeth I could begin this article in a 100 different ways and the common theme of all of them would be to get you to read on and understand my quest to make both our industries better. I write this as welfare officer for the British Association of Equine Dental Technicians (BAEDT) and I’m partly responsible for the BHA’s recent clarification article that appeared in the March/April issue of the NTF Newsletter, on using correctly qualified dentists on your yard. I hope you will take a few moments to read the article as it is ground-breaking.
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WORDS: CHRIS NAPTHINE PHOTOS: CHRIS NAPTHINE
aCehoRse trainers strive to be successful in their training careers and many look for any little edge that might improve the horses in their charge or make the training of them easier. a combination of small changes and tweaks can create a beautifully oiled machine to work just how you want it to. What is accepted practice now that was previously unheard of -– imagine ten years ago a vet telling you he was going to fasten a scope on your horse and while it galloped you
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could all sit and watch its palate on some sort of futuristic computer screen with no wires. Times are constantly changing and so have a lot of the ideas on what can be done to help you stay off the cold list. Conquering misconceptions is the biggest task faced by most qualified dentists. Take the old ‘thumb in the mouth and feel the first tooth’ check – I’ll say this tongue in cheek but imagine the lorry mechanic lifting the bonnet when in for a service just looking underneath and saying “well sir, I think she’ll be ok for a few more months”; it’s just impossible to judge a horses need for dentistry or the
skills of your dentist via this method. In the last few years techniques for recognising and diagnosing dental problems and their subsequent treatment has skyrocketed. here are a few things that I hope might be food for thought and positive change. The processed dry matter (hay) from a horse should be no more than 3.7mm long to enable the correct digestion. Think how short that needs to be. If the horses teeth work correctly then it will gain greater benefit from every kilo of hay you feed it to achieve the maximum absorption through digestion. Therefore with the correct dental care the
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