Ask the Equine Dental Technician

[VeronicaF]

Starting on This Monday 30.01.06 Question & Answer session

Ask the Dentist.

Gill is kindly giving up her time to answer any questions for IH's charity the Equine Market Watch.

Gill is a fully Qualified Equine Dental Technician, having passed the joint British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) & British Veterinary Dental Association (BVDA) Exams. She is also a member of The British Association of Equine Dental Technicians (BAEDT). She is based on the Cornwall Devon Border, working throughout Devon and Cornwall and can be contacted on 01566 86056 / 07799 877806 or [e-mail].




You can post a question to the charity email box

[e-mail]



and upon the receipt of a donation, Gill will answer your questions.

How to pay your donations:
Any cash / cheque donations can be made directly into any HSBC bank:-

HSBC Bank
Wantage Branch
A/C 81248715 Name: Intelligent Horsemanship Charity donations.
Sort Code: 40-45-36

Credit / Debit card payments can be made through: www.paypal.co.uk
The payment reference is: [e-mail]

[gillspinney]

QUESTION?

I'd like to have my horses' teeth checked, but am not sure how to go about
it. Could you tell me the recommended way of doing this?

ANSWER

My advice to anyone looking for an Equine Dental Technician is to ensure that the person they choose is fully qualified. The simplest way to do this is to log on to either of the following two websites which have the list of members of the British Association of Equine Dental Technicians (BAEDT).

www.beva.org.uk
www.equinedentistry.org.uk

There is a great deal of information on the BAEDT and the process of qualification on the above two websites. I will however, outline the areas that my clients most often ask me about :

To join the BAEDT, the joint British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) / British Veterinary Dental Association (BVDA) Dental examination must be passed. The BAEDT is the only professional organisation recognised by BEVA, its members having the same professional and ethical standards as itself.

Owners are often confused about who is qualified and who is not and mistakenly think that training or qualifications gained abroad are valid in this country. Additionally, most of the organisations that are not recognised by BEVA can be joined by anyone, simply by paying a yearly fee.

The process of qualifying to join the BAEDT is as follows:

1. The candidate must attend a 2 day Advanced Theory Course, and to do this, a CV and 2 veterinary references are required. A year after this course, the candidate will be eligible to sit the exam.

2. At least 300 Case Studies must be submitted to the examiners, including at least 40 where advanced procedures were undertaken and these must have been signed by the attending vet.

3. The candidate then has to work for a period of time with a qualified Equine Dental Technician. This person must then give them a reference and will also be asked independently whether they think the candidate has a good chance of passing the exam.

4. The examiners then hold a meeting where the documentation of each candidate is assessed to see that it is of the required standard. Successful candidates will then be offered a place on the exam.

5. The exam itself consists of three parts

a. Theory – 2 papers covering anatomy, physiology, microbiology, prevention of disease, legislation, dental anatomy, dental disorders and treatment.

b. 2 Spot Examinations - The first one covering equine dental instruments, anatomical specimens, dental photographs, dental specimens and skulls. The second one consists of examining three skulls and charting dental abnormalities.

c. Practical – A 1 hour examination performed in front of two examiners looking at the general handling of the horse, the case history, examination techniques and findings, interpretation of findings and the rationale for treatment and of course the actual skill in treatment.

As you can see, the examination process is extremely rigorous and with an average pass rate of just 25%, only the very competent will qualify and so you can be assured that your horse will receive expert and professional care.

Note : There are a few people who have passed the joint BEVA/BVDA Exams who are not members of the BAEDT. If you are in doubt you should contact the BEVA office.

Gill Spinney

[gillspinney]

QUESTION? - This question and donation was submitted by Liz Pitman.

Following a recent post on the DG, it would be interesting to hear a dentist's opinion on brushing a horse's teeth. Is there ever call to do so and, if so, in what sort of case and how would you go about doing it?

ANSWER

To answer this question fully, I will first explain how the horse eats.

The horse uses its lips to pull food into its mouth and the incisors then cut or grasp the food. This process continues until the front part of the mouth is full of food and then the grinding of the food by the molars (cheek teeth) is initiated.

The chewing cycle is as follows:

1. The mandible (lower jaw) drops and moves out to the side.
2. The mouth is closed so that the upper and lower rows of molars are in contact.
3. The Power Stroke - whereby the lower teeth slide across the upper teeth, grinding the food into small pieces.

As this chewing happens, the food is directed backwards in the mouth by the ridges on the surface of the teeth, the palatine ridges, the tongue and the cheeks. It moves the food in a spiral fashion and the food bolus will be of a rope like consistency. As the food bolus moves further back in the mouth, the food particles are ground into smaller and smaller pieces until the food is ready to swallow.

As you can see, there are very strong frictional forces associated with the horse eating, and this is usually sufficient to keep the teeth free of plaque. Problems do often occur due to food stagnation and food packing into gaps between teeth. The treatment for this is to restore the teeth to a normal state, removing protuberant areas of teeth that have occurred due to unnatural wear. This allows the food to move continually in the mouth and allows the cleaning process expained above to occur.

We have been mainly talking about the molar teeth so far, and it is of course the incisors that the owners can see. Though the decidous (baby) teeth are quite white, it is normal for the adult teeth to be creamy brown in colour and so this should not be a cause for concern.

Older horses do often accumulate tartar on their teeth, usually on the lower incisors, lower canines and the outside edge of the lower premolar teeth (front three molars) and this can cause inflammation of the gums (gingivitus). In these cases there is some merit in dental brushing along with the correction of abnormal incisor and molar wear problems to prevent tartar build up. Additionally, food packed between small gaps between incisors can be brushed, flushed or picked out on a regular basis.

To conclude:

Brushing can be of value in preventing tartar build up or to remove packed food, usually in older horses. In these cases I would recommend that you speak to your Equine Dental Technician or vet to establish whether this would be useful for your horse. Care must also be taken that brushing is done extremely gently at first so that the gums do not become sore.

Gill Spinney

[VeronicaF]

Ask the Equine Dental Technician


Gill Spinney has a new web site!!
www.equinedentalservices.org.uk