Who Knocked Out My Front Tooth?

The day after Memorial Day. I hope we all paused a moment yesterday to thank our soldiers for their service, commitment, and even their loss of life for our freedoms. If you didn’t, go ahead and thank them now. Then again tomorrow……

Mel and I were in Wellington, FL today working at 3 horse farms. Two things came up for our discussion today. The first was a 20 year old horse who lost a front tooth. Actually, it was decayed and only the exposed part disintegrated. This horse will be OK missing part of his front tooth.

20 year old with a darkened #201 that suddenly fractured. No pain or discomfort, slight smell from decay and trapped food. Owner will watch.

Decay in the incisors is rare. I had one horse where I poked a hole in the dark spot on the front of an incisor and puss escaped under pressure for a full second and about two feet out. As disgusting as it sounds, horse’s teeth are put together differently than human teeth. When an infection forms an abscess in a horse tooth, the horse usually shows no pain even when it disintegrates the tooth. They can actually heal their teeth which helps to preserve them. Don’t you wish you had horse teeth now!

Melissa floats an old horse while her buddy, already floated by Melissa, watches with words of encouragement.

The second is depicted in the picture of Mel and the two horses. The observing horse had already been floated by her and the horse had busted out of his stall to come over and help. I had finished the Gypsy Vanner horse behind me and grabbed my camera for this shot. This shows how calm the horses are when we float them. But don’t take my word for it. Let me quote the owner:

“Dr Tucker – I came out to the barn because I knew you were here – the horses were having their teeth floated and it is the only peaceful place on my property! How about that! Even I am starting to relax.”

Thanks Joy for this descriptive testimonial of how things usually go using The Tucker Technique Of Equine Dentistry™.

This reminds me, the online school for equine dentistry is steadily coming along. It is a huge project. More later. Until tomorrow, this is Doc T