Tooth Care for Horses

forms either a reciprocating powerfloat or a rotary dremel are usually used personally I prefer a dremel because the blade is guarded so is less likely to damage the soft tissues of the cheeks and tongue. One important thing to remember about power tools is that altough they make the work easier they do impose some problems of their own. Firstly its very easy to take too much off I remember once seeing a horse whose owner was very worried because shed had the tooth man who wasnt a vet or a qualified EDT out and then the horse had been unable to eat afterwards. On closer examination he had managed to power float the teeth as smooth as billiard balls so the mare was no longer able to grind any food. She had to live on porridge and mashes for several months until the teeth wore in and the grinding ridges reappeared. The second issue is that power tools often generate a lot of heat and if left applied to the tooth for too long can actually kill the tooth so that it rots and needs to be removed. Some tools have a built in water spray for cooling otherwise I only leave the cutting surface on the tooth for a matter of seconds remove it apply water if needed then do a bit more.
Now once again we need to consider sedation the more you need to do the more likely it is that you will need sedation and personally I almost always sedate horses if Im going to use power tools like a dremel. I didnt always follow this rule until one day a very calm pony I was working on jumped forward and swallowed the running dremel. Fortunately all was well in this case because as I felt the dremel vanish down the ponys gullet I managed to cut the power and then retrieve it before it was all gone but it certainly made me think twice before working on unsedated patients!