Stress levels... sedation or not for teeth.

[lauren123]

So sox needs his teeth doing. However i am unsure who to go with. I have found EDTs generally able to do soxs teeth no issues in a calm manner. If he gets breaks from the gag often.
However i have found when my vets hsve done him they open the gag quite wide straight away which then makes him worried and panic and he starts throwing his head around... which then leads to sedation.
I am trying to weigh up what would be less stressful for him...
Eg would going through the whole vet down and sedation be more stressful for him then a edt who will work calmly and slowly with him?
I arent too fused over the price however EDT in my area ranges from 40-70 . Vets are around 85 for everything.
Personally i feel not sedating him would be better for him.
But again i have had it before when EDT (one that the yard girls got) appeared to do very little with his teeth.. as in 10 mins and done.
Just unsure

 

[Mary Poppins]

I have thought about this over the years and now always go with the vet and sedation option. My vets said that this gives them the best chance of doing a good job and is simply safer for everyone. I almost got knocked out once when Ben swung his head round at me whilst wearing the gag and almost knocked me out, so I do tend to agree with the vets.

 

[Kite_Rider]

I think it depends really, sedation is probably the safest route, however, if you have a patient EDT who is happy to take their time with him maybe that is better for him, I'm not really sure what sedation drugs actually do to a horse physiologically but if he's ok with needles maybe sedation is best as it will be over much quicker too.
Sorry I can't be more help.

 

[joosie]

I prefer just to give a dose of Sedalin to take the edge off. I only go for full-on sedation for the ones that really can't cope.

 

[Jessey]

My vet is dual qualified and very patient but I won't ever try to avoid sedation or 'make do' without because I want the person to be able to get a really good look right in the mouth and to accurately assess what is going on, which they simply can't do with the head being chucked about eta I'll try without first.

 

[carthorse]

If you have a good EDT who is calm with him & can do a thorough job without sedation then that's the route I'd take every time. Sedation does carry a risk, all be it a small one, so if I don't need to sedate I'd rather not. And even sedated I'd expect a dentist or vet to be considerate, it is only a sedation not a general anaesthetic.

 

[horseandgoatmom]

My vets have always done a very light sedation. Honestly I'm more concerned with the power floating than the sedation.
I really liked the old file float better.
It seems too easy to take too much with the power floating.

 

[Kite_Rider]

My vets have always done a very light sedation. Honestly I'm more concerned with the power floating than the sedation.
I really liked the old file float better.
It seems too easy to take too much with the power floating.

I like the power tools, last vet who did Belles teeth used them and I was quite worried to start with, I mean seriously, power tools in a horses mouth, but to be honest he did a fabulous job, was in and out in no time at all and Belle really liked him, sadly he’s left the practise now and none of the other dental vets use power tools.
Almost all of the vets at our practise use sedation as a matter of course, but he was quite open to trying without as Belle has never been sedated for teeth before (used to use an EDT, not vet) and she was as good as gold, didn’t even mind the noise.

 

[horseandgoatmom]

My worry was taking too much off.

 

[carthorse]

@horseandgoatmom I have had that happen & the horse struggled to eat for about a week, needless to say I didn't use that person again! In fairness though most dentists & vets do a better job than that, and for an old horse with loose teeth power tools can make the difference between them losing or keeping teeth as there's less pull on them. A lot of dentists still have manual rasps though & will use them if asked or if the horse tolerates them better.

 

[Jessey]

An edt I know started using power tools a while back, when asked he actually admitted that pretty much anyone can use hand tools and call themselves an equine dentist, but you have to be a fully qualified edt with additional qualifications to use power tools, so generally speaking you are likely getting a more qualified person if they are power floating (in the UK anyway), though as with everything you get the good and the bad.