Dr. Robert Krueger, DVM
& Change aka Pretty Bay Be Roan

While Change drifts off to a sedated snooze (upper right) Dr. Krueger insures the speculum is properly fitted for the teeth repair procedure about to commence. Below he uses the power float tools to grind and smooth the animal’s teeth. In the small photo (lower left) he lets barn observers see the result of his work. The extra hand down there belongs to the horse boarding facility owner Sharon Hibbit, Butler.

FLOATING HORSE TEETH—

If you are at all the squeamish type you do not want to be in the horse barn when your favorite veterinarian provides this essential service to your equine friend.

Picture your dentist cleaning your teeth with a wood rasp type tool attached to a 3/8” power drill.

The floating procedure is necessary because, unlike humans, horses’ teeth grow continuously into older age. When they eat grass, their natural food, it contains silica which is an abrasive and constantly wears down the animal’s teeth. (1)

The horse reaches down for a yummy mouthful of grass then raises its head to chew which changes his jaw position constantly. A horse living on pasture grass will therefore be more likely to naturally polish off the surfaces of its molars.

Not so with horses on a diet of alfalfa and less fibrous feeds. They tend to chew less and this food is generally less abrasive. Accordingly, their teeth surfaces will not get polished off evenly.

This is a problem for horses at our latitude when the winter shortened growing season eliminates natural pasturing.

Raised edges may appear along the rims of their molars; typically along the outside of the upper set and the inside of the lower set. When these “un-ground surfaces” get large the horse cannot rock his lower jaw laterally as he chews due to his teeth being locked between the opposing ridges.

Thus the problem propagates, the ridges slowly appear larger as they are no longer being worn down, and, as the horse rubs these ridges when chewing, it is actually wearing down the sides of these ridges into sharp points.

These pointed ridges can become quite sharp and often cut into the horse’s cheeks when they chew. This occurs where a bit or a halter pushes the cheek against a sharp tooth.

Consequently, a veterinarian like Dr. Krueger, working with a compassionately sedated horse uses a McPherson Speculum to hold the animal’s mouth open while using his horse-sized, power float dental tools to perform this essential repair.

All the while, Change enjoyed his chemically induced nap while his head was supported on a barrel and he was comforted with a stabilizing hug by his owner Joetta Goodman.

(1) http://www.kbrhorse.net/hea/float.html