It might be an understatement to say that I’ve always found extracting equine teeth to be somewhat daunting. (I won’t use the ÔIt’s like pulling teeth’ clichŽ.) I’ll admit that whenever presented with a complaint of weight loss, I would say something along the lines of “Well, it could be lots of things other than the teeth,” and press for full physical and bloodwork with the vigor of a used car salesman–all the while chanting in my head, “Please not the teeth. Please let me find something else.”

For veterinarians with patience, skill, training, and luck with inanimate objects, equine dentistry can be tremendously rewarding. However, it also carries risk of complications or secondary injury to the horse or, as a legendary black eye on my part once bore testimony, to the practitioner. Coordination is also a useful attribute in equine dental extractions, I’ve found