Re: Teeth:

["Duncan Fletcher" <dfletche@gte.net>]

In most states, they must either be a vet or work under the supervision of a
vet. But dentistry is not something a vet learns much of in vet school. The
problem is there are also gaps in the education of human dentists that stray
over into equine practice and gaps in those folks that hold themselves out
to be equine dentist and nothing else. There are vets that are specializing
(at least in part) in dentistry. It is entirely possible to have sufficient
training to both do equine dentistry (including anesthesia - nurse
anesthetists do this to people, albeit under 'supervision') without being a
vet, but this is still very much in the area of caveat emptor.

Interesting sidenote. I sold software into the dental market at one time and
we had as a client a dentist who sidelined working with big cats at Great
Adventure Amusement Park - under vet supervision - no ace and a float.
Interestingly, his human specialty was orthodontics - but for the cats he
did general work, extractions and root canals.

Duncan Fletcher
dfletche@gte.net


----- Original Message -----
From: Douglas M Gifford <dpwg@juno.com>

> How many hours does it take for the Equine dentist to
> get their certification?  (or do states require this)
> Is an equine dentist a specialized vet? How can they give tranquilizers
> if needed if  they are not? I know that we have had the discussion of non
> vets giving
> tranquilizers before and no one liked that idea!
> I am of the opinion that you should be aware of your vet's
> talents and weak points of their practice.
> My personal vet for the horses is very good at Accupressure
> and Chiropractic treatments as well as other issues but I am
> not certain that he is good at dental work as I had another vet work
> on my gelding as I posted before. My gelding has put on alot of
> weight and does not drop his feed as he did before. He
> also responds 90% better to my hands on the bit. I think you
> have to asses the availability of equine dentists in your area and
> the talents of the vets that you work with on a closer basis.  In other
> words there
> are pros and cons to each and it is the individuals owners choice.
>
> Pat and Razzel in Kansas
>
>