DENTISTRY

Regular dental care is such a critical part of preventative medicine in all ages of horses! We offer both the routine dental care and maintenance, as well as the advanced techniques and extractions that characterize specialized care. For routine dental care, we offer both in clinic and on farm services, and for our more complex cases our facility has multiple sets of stocks to allow for horses to be safe and comfortable during longer procedures. We recommend that your horse has a sedated dental examination at least once a year so we can catch any issues right away and ensure that your horse is feeling their best! 

All our veterinarians are well trained in routine dental examination and floating. Dr. Sarah Thomas has a passion for dentistry and has done multiple continuing education opportunities for oral examinations, procedures, and extractions, including an Advanced Oral Techniques course. 

ROUTINE DENTISTRY

  • Our veterinarians can palpate the level of sharp enamel points at the front of the cheek teeth and take a brief visual look for any obvious malocclusions. Please note, this does not replace a comprehensive sedated examination and pathologies and malocclusions may not be able to be visualized during a brief visual examination. 

  • Our veterinarians will perform a detailed sedated examination to determine what occlusal adjustments are necessary and identify any fractured teeth or areas of concern. 

  • Depending on what our veterinarians find on intraoral examination, they will use our powerfloat equipment to perform occlusal adjustments to help your horse to be more comfortable, as well as to improve their ability to chew their food (especially important in older horses). 

ADVANCED DENTISTRY

  • If your horse has an abnormal gap between their teeth they often pack feed in these areas, which can lead to gum disease, gum/bone recession, and even tooth root abscesses.  This procedure helps to prevent feed from getting locked into these areas and causing disease!

  • Dental radiographs are an essential part of determining if teeth need to be extracted, to help predict how difficult a tooth may be to extract, and to monitor teeth with minor issues/fractures. 


  • A tooth may need to be extracted for multiple reasons including root tip abscesses, mobility, and fractures.  We offer extractions of incisors, canines, wolf teeth and cheek teeth on an as needed basis. Extractions (especially cheek teeth) can take a longer period of time and are under a stronger standing sedation than a routine dental, so we recommend that horses be brought to our facility to implement our stocks and provide a safe and comfortable environment for our staff and your horse. We use dental nerve blocks to ensure that your horse is comfortable for the procedure and perform post extraction radiographs to confirm that all pieces/roots are removed. Please see the below video for a peek into what a dental extraction procedure is like!

  • We are very lucky to have a dental scope that we are able to implement in more complex case diagnosis and tooth extractions, as well as for taking photos to help monitor conditions/fractures. 

Featured
EOTRH: a dental disease in the elderly equine
EOTRH: a dental disease in the elderly equine

EOTRH stands for Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis. It is a painful condition affecting the dental tissues of the incisors and canines (front teeth). Most commonly, it is diagnosed in older horses (>15 years old).

Proactive Winter Horse/Donkey/Mule Care
Proactive Winter Horse/Donkey/Mule Care

Winter in this country is a beast. As I write this, we are into our 4th blast of snowy and cold weather already this fall (did I count right?), and it seems that winter is already well on its way to settling in. So a blogpost about proactive winter horse care may already seem a little past tense, but if you’re like me and living in denial that summer is already well past and fall quickly disappearing, you will have a few horse health care items to check off your list!

What happens to wild horses that don't get dental care?
What happens to wild horses that don't get dental care?

As many of you are aware, one of Dr. Butters’ special interests is equine dentistry.  Knowing this, one of our fantastic clients generously provided us with a wonderful and very interesting skull specimen that we wanted to share.

This skull is from a stallion that lived in a wild/feral state west of Cochrane.  Our client knew the stallion, and relayed that he died during the very cold, deep snow winter we experienced several years ago.

Dr. Butters believes she knows what may have contributed to this early death.

Equine Dentistry: Why Equine Veterinarians are Uniquely Qualified
Equine Dentistry: Why Equine Veterinarians are Uniquely Qualified

Finding the right person to provide dental care for your horse can be confusing for some owners. Proper dental care can be the key to maintaining overall health in many horses and, just as with other important areas of equine health, owners should consult with an equine veterinarian about best health-care practices. 

To help you make an educated decision about who provides your horse’ s dental care, it is helpful to know the extensive education, in-the-field and on-the-job training and continuing education that veterinarians complete in order to provide the high level of professional health care that each horse needs. 

A Guide To Equine Dental Care
A Guide To Equine Dental Care

Like humans, horses get two sets of teeth in their lifetime. The baby teeth (also called deciduous teeth) are only temporary. Normally, a horse will have a full set of baby teeth by the age of 9 months. These teeth will start to be replaced around the age of 2 1/2 years. By the age of 5 most horses have their full complement of permanent teeth.

Veterinarians recommend that your horse’s teeth be examined at least once per year - this applies whether or not there are any manifested signs of dental problems. Horses with dental problems may show obvious signs such as pain or irritation or they may show no noticeable signs at all.

EOTRH: A Dental Disease in the Elderly Equine. By Dr. Sarah Thomas

Proactive Winter Horse/Donkey/Mule Care

What Happens to Wild Horses That Don’t Get Dental Care?

Equine Dentistry: Why Equine Veterinarians are Uniquely Qualified

A Guide to Equine Dental Care