Open Up and Say Zzz: Why Horse Dental Exams Require Sedation
You can’t exactly promise your horse a fun sticker or a toy at the end of a dental visit to get him to behave. No, if you want a dental exam to be not only safe (for both horse and practitioner) but also worthwhile, sedation is a necessity.
“You need to get equipment back in the mouth if you’re going to do a complete dental exam and see all the structures, and you just can’t do that without sedating the horse,” said Jeff Reiswig, DVM, Dipl. AVDC (Equine), who founded Equine Veterinary Dental Services in Newark, Ohio.
Equipment includes a mirror and sometimes an endoscope, as well as a mouth speculum that holds the horse’s jaws apart, he said. “You need a quiet horse so you can see the detail. Without sedation they may throw their head, which makes it dangerous for the horse and veterinarian
Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.
TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.
Start your free account today!
Already have an account?
and continue reading.
Written by:
Christa Lesté-Lasserre, MA
Related Articles
Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with