Internationally recognized equine respiratory and dental disorder specialist Padraic M. Dixon, MVB, PhD, MRCVS, Dipl. EVDC (Equine), will help practitioners understand how the evolution of the horse has impacted current equine dentistry knowledge when he delivers the 2017 Frank J. Milne State-of-the-Art Lecture on Nov. 19 during the 2017 American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Convention in San Antonio, Texas.

Dixon’s lecture, titled “The Evolution of Horses and The Evolution of Equine Dentistry,” will focus on the horse’s 55-million-year evolution, particularly in relation to dental development and the dental aspects of equine domestication. Additionally, he aims to educate practitioners about the diagnosis and management of common dental disorders through clinically relevant anatomical, pathological, imaging, and treatment studies. Other topics include a discussion about the contribution horses have made to civilization and the history of equine dentistry.

A graduate of University College Dublin, he later obtained his PhD in equine respiratory disorders at The University of Edinburgh. Dixon has spent most of his professional life at The Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies, in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he is a professor of equine surgery and specializes in equine respiratory and dental disorders.

Dixon’s main clinical and research interests are equine dental disorders and upper respiratory surgery. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers on these topics and has lectured and tutored extensively on these areas around the world. He is a Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Specialist in Equine Soft Tissue Surgery and a European Specialist in Equine Dentistry