Mark Thorne BAEDT

The minimum essential equipment used daily by BAEDT members for a thorough routine oral examination. All of these tools are so important to enable the practitioner to fully evaluate inside the mouth and to identify any dental pathology before treatment 🔎👇🏼 ✅ Full mouth speculum: to allow full access to the oral cavity ✅ High quality LED headlight/spec light: to illuminate the oral cavity to allow full visibility ✅ Dental Mirror: to carefully examine all areas of the oral cavity and to assess each tooth individually to identify any pathology ✅ Dental picks and probes: to evaluate and assess any lesions such as caries, secondary dentine defects and to evaluate the severity of any diastemata ✅ Water flush: to remove any loose food before treatment that may be hiding pathology ✅ High pressure irrigation pump: to help remove any trapped feed material between inter proximal spaces ⚠️Without a full mouth speculum, a light source and a mirror it’s impossible to see inside the horses mouth and to be able to identify any pathology⚠️ Don’t compromise on your horses dental health. All 🇬🇧 BAEDT members are highly skilled and trained and examined to the highest standards 🦷 ➡️ Visit www.baedt.com to find an approved EDT in your area! #BAEDT #EquineDentistry #HorseHealth #EquineEducation #EquineDentalTechnicians #HorseCare #EquineLearning #HorseDentistry

Why choose a qualified and fully insured BAEDT member for your equine dental care needs?

⭐️ Rigorously trained and examined: BAEDT members undergo extensive training and rigorous examinations over several years to gain the BEVA/BVDA qualification, ensuring they possess the necessary skills and knowledge to provide the highest standards of dental care.

⭐️ Commitment to Continued Professional Development (CPD): BAEDT members are committed to staying up to date with the latest advancements in equine dentistry by attending regular CPD activities across the UK.

⭐️ Adherence to a code of conduct: BAEDT members adhere to a strict code of conduct that outlines ethical standards and professional responsibilities. This code ensures that members uphold the highest level of integrity and professionalism in their interactions with clients and colleagues.

⭐️ Dedication to equine welfare:
BAEDT members are deeply committed to enhancing equine welfare not only through their dental work but also through their efforts to educate the public. By raising awareness about the importance of proper dental care and its impact on the overall health and wellbeing of horses.

Don’t compromise on your horse’s dental health. To locate your nearest BAEDT member visit www.baedt.com 🐎

🐎 As you prepare to introduce your young horse to work this spring, ensuring their mouth comfort sets the stage for optimal performance.

🦷 Before the age of 5 years horses undergo significant dental changes including:
- the shedding of 24 deciduous (baby) teeth
- the eruption of 24 permanent molars, 12 incisors, possibly four canines and possibly wolf teeth.
This period generally coincides with the introduction the bit and ridden work.

🗓️ Regular check-ups every six months for young horses are extremely important, providing an opportunity to detect and address issues early, also paving the way to allow the horse to perform at their maximum potential.

🔍 Common dental problems in young horses include:
- sharp enamel points, which can cause subsequent ulceration to the inside of cheeks and tongue
- problematic wolf teeth
- mobile or retained deciduous teeth
- diastemata and food impaction which can lead to periodontal disease, considered the most painful condition in the horses mouth.

👍🏻 By prioritising early dental care, you’re not only ensuring your young horse’s comfort and willingness to accept the bit but also reducing the risk of dental disease in later life.

Every Equine, Every Year 🦷

Visit our website to locate a BAEDT Equine Dental Technician near you ➡️ www.baedt.com

Happy Easter to all my wonderful clients and their equine families.

The BAEDT extends warm Easter wishes to all our followers!

We invite you to share your Easter weekend adventures with your equine companions in the comments below ⬇️ We would love to see what you’re getting up to 🐣🐴

When was your little ones last dental?

Just because they are retired, companions, or “good doers” doesn’t mean they don’t need their teeth checked.

It’s common to underestimate the dental needs of these smaller equines, especially as some may be on restricted diets for weight management. Horses, ponies and donkeys all have the same amount of incisors and molars and that means these little guys are prone to many dental problems as they have such tiny heads to fit all those teeth in.

It’s so important that they are checked at least once if not twice per year to ensure they are free from any discomfort, detect early stages of disease, and to give them the best chance of having efficient chewing surfaces as they go into old age. Having hypsodont teeth means that the teeth continually erupt so will always be developing sharp enamel points and any overgrowths will become worse over time.

Don’t let them suffer in silence.
Together we can improve equine welfare.

Every Equine, Every Year 🦷

www.baedt.com

🦷

What does it take to become a BEVA/BVDA qualified Equine Dental Technician?

As we approach this week's practical exam, we're eager to shed light on the journey each of our members has undertaken. It takes several years of intensive training and rigorous examinations to achieve full qualification.

The examination process entails:

➡️ Completion of BEVA/BVDA advanced theory course
➡️ Evidence of education- either
- BSc or FdSc in Equine Dental Science/Studies
- Training under direct supervision of BAEDT member or Veterinary Surgeon with expertise in equine dentistry
- RCVS membership
➡️ Submisson of 300 case studies, of which 40 are advanced case studies countersigned by the attending Veterinary Surgeon
➡️ 2 references -one from BAEDT member and one from a Veterinary Surgeon with expertise in equine dentistry
➡️ Minimum of 5 days working alongside a BAEDT member or Veterinary Surgeon with expertise in equine dentistry
➡️ BEVA/BVDA Theory exam
➡️ BEVA/BVDA Practical exam

Not to mention the countless hours spent shadowing, undertaking unpaid work, traveling expenses, investing in training courses, and the financial outlay for equipment.

We take immense pride in our members for their relentless passion and unwavering dedication to equine welfare.

Visit our website to locate a BAEDT Equine Dental Technician near you ➡ www.baedt.com

📸 Kim Kilner BAEDT

Huge balls of calculus (tartar) on a horse’s canine teeth seen this week! The canine teeth are not involved in the chewing process and often accumulate calculus (calcified mineral deposits), but these are particularly large. The calculus must be carefully removed, but particular care is required in case the tooth underneath is diseased or suffering from tooth resorption. When the calculus is removed the gingiva (gums) around these teeth is usually inflamed but will quickly heal.

🐎 Trainers' Evening 🏇🏻

We are holding a trainers' evening at Buccleuch Arms, St Boswells, on Tuesday 6th February at 6pm.

Presentations to include:

⭐️ Gastric ulcers
⭐️ Upper respiratory medicine
⭐️ New horse MOT

Dinner included. RSVP only - please contact Max on 07741313053 📲

Sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim 💚

WEBINAR: Straight from the horse’s mouth: Essential equine dental care - World Horse Welfare For our latest Welfare Wednesday Webinar we welcome experts in equine dental care. Vet Stuart Altoft, who treats the horses at our Glenda Spooner Farm Rescue and Rehoming Centre in Somerset, will begin by examining routine care and common equine dental problems. The discussion will then turn to less...

Regular Routine dental maintenance is an essential part of your horses welfare

Benefits of regular dental examinations & treatment

* Prevents oral discomfort and pain
* Detects early stages of dental disease
* Improves eating efficiency
* Improves bit accommodation
* Allows maximum opportunity for the horse to perform to the best of its ability
*Helps prevent dental disease in old age

Together we can improve equine welfare 🦷

Happy New Year to all my family, friends and clients. Here’s to 2024 🥂🍾

Sedation and dentistry. Do we need it? I’ve been thinking of writing this post for quite awhile, but I keep putting it off because it is a topic that raises a lot of opinions from a lot of different people. Vets and EDTs seem to struggle to get on the same page. So I would like to explain my take. Before I get into it, just a little bit of housekeeping 🏠 🧼 Firstly, please read my post before you comment on it. If you can’t be bothered reading it (and it will be a long one if history is anything to go by!), you don’t get to express your opinion on MY post. It’s rude and you will just embarrass yourself. Secondly, I am based in the UK, I cannot speak for other countries. In the UK only vets are allowed to sedate, but anybody can do dentistry on a horse. We do have a recognised qualification/exam from the BVDA/BEVA however it is not a legal requirement in order to perform dentistry. When I talk about EDTs please be clear that I am talking about those that hold the qualification. I have already made my views very well-known in that I do not believe trainees or those without the qualification should be allowed to work on horses unsupervised…at all ❌ Ok, back to it. Now I may be a vet, but my opinion on this may surprise you. I also hold the dentistry qualification and I stand with a foot in each camp most of the time. Personally, I do not insist on sedation for the horses I work on. I probably do 50:50 sedated versus unsedated. However I do not think this is representative of the population as a whole because a lot of people use me due to the fact that I can sedate and also carry the dentistry qualification. A lot of my BAEDT colleagues work on 95% unsedated horses, which is also unlikely to be representative of the general population. The figure of those requiring sedation is likely somewhere in between. I hear two opinions that are given as though they are fact that I strongly disagree with. The first one is you cannot get to the back of the horses mouth without sedation, and the second one is, you cannot do a thorough examination of the horses mouth without sedation. When I hear these, I often think the person offering these opinions may not be able to, but it is rather arrogant of them to assume that nobody else has this skill. I personally do have this skill. And the other members on the BAEDT members list also have this skill. Working on an unsedated horse is a skill, a skill separate from that of working on a sedated horse. Just because you can work on a sedated horse does not automatically mean you have the ability to work on an unsedated horse. It is a separate set of skills that takes many many years and many thousands of horses to hone. To work on an unsedated horse you have to be absolutely precise. You cannot stray from where you should be, you cannot get away with touching the gum, the tongue or the cheek as obviously the horse will react where it wouldn’t when sedated. Also, you have to be ambidextrous, you do half of the mouth with your right hand and half of the mouth with your left hand. It doesn’t matter if you are left or right handed, they have to be a perfect mirror image of each other. This is probably the most limiting skill, one that those who do not spend 100% of their time doing dentistry often lack. You have to hold the head with one hand and hold the equipment with the other, which requires a lot of core strength, multitasking and dexterity. You also have to have a very good level of horsemanship. You have to be able to predict the horses movements and you must be able to work with the horses movements rather than against them. You get into a rhythm with the horse, and how they move their tongue and cheeks, so that you use them to make your job easier, rather than fighting against them. And finally, something that is very overlooked is it requires training of the horse. You would not expect a never-seen-before young horse to immediately behave for the Farrier. And you cannot expect them to immediately behave for the dentist. It takes training from the owners side with regards to handling and manners, and it takes training from the dentists side to offer patience and give the horse a chance to understand what is being asked of them in what is a daunting procedure. A young horse sees the farrier from a very young age and far more frequently than they see the dentist, usually the owner has prepped the horse for the farrier and plies them with treats to keep them quiet. Yet often are expected to behave immediately for the dentist. So given all of this, wouldn’t it be easier just to sedate everything? I have that ability, so why wouldn’t I? Honestly, and primarily, because it is usually harder to work on a sedated horse than a well behaved unsedated one (for me). They don’t get needle shy, they don’t wobble, they often help me by holding their tongue to the side or holding their head to a comfortable height. I can safely use mirrors, probes and the burr reaching all areas of the mouth without stress to the horse or difficulty for myself. I don’t understand anybody that wants to sedate these angels 😇 of horses. Aside from this personal opinion we must remember that sedation is a veterinary procedure 💉 Whilst it is very safe, there are the rare risks of needle reactions and drug reactions. I’m not going to list them and scare people, on the whole sedation is very safe but veterinary medicine is about weighing up the risks vs the benefits. If I do not feel it is necessary to sedate a horse for routine dentistry, and all that is required is further skill on my behalf, why would I. That being said, for those that do not do large numbers of horses and have not dedicated years of their lives to training themselves to work on unsedated horses, the benefit does indeed outweigh the risk. In such a situation it is essential that these vets do sedate in order to do a thorough job. There is no shame in this at all, all that matters is the horse walks away with a thorough job done. But also don’t assume it is the only way to get a thorough job done. The video below shows me working on an unsedated horse. Tilly is 27 year old and a long standing patient of mine. She has not been given any calmer or drugs of any sort. As you can see, she is perfectly relaxed and makes my job very easy. This horse would be more difficult to work on sedated than she is to work on awake. She’s an older lady and really doesn’t need any chemical assistance to be a gem. 💎 She is not alone in her angelic behaviour, many will stand just as well. Ps please excuse my Michelin man outfit, it’s -3°C 🥶 and I needed layers 🤣 I’m often asked when do I decide to sedate?There are a few reasons I sedate, firstly if the horse is in pain, or if what I am going to do is likely to cause pain, secondly if I need the horse to stay absolutely still and the other reason is the horses behaviour. Not every horse will stand to have dental work done without sedation. Just as some people have very sensitive teeth and can’t stand the vibration of the ultrasonic descaler at the hygienist, some horses feel the same way and it is unfair to try and force these horses to stand unsedated. Quite frankly, it’s impossible to force them, they are half a ton of adrenaline fuelled animal. If the horse is fighting the professional, they cannot do a thorough job and are at risk of injury. Being stood in front of a violent horse is a very dangerous place to be. It’s a little different if a new horse is worried or scared, often you can take your time and win them around. Sometimes I start off with sedation and each time I see them I reduce the amount until they no longer need it at all. But if a horse hates it, they need sedating, and will always need sedating. Starting horses young really helps. Have your dentist look in their mouth even before they need doing. Teach them to have their lips lifted to see the incisors, teach them that humans are allowed to touch their tongues (obviously in the bit space, don’t get bitten!) and teach them to have their heads lifted and moved around. All these little things really help. Also keep up with the your routine visits! If you always allow your horse to go overdue so it’s a bigger job or they have ulcerations every time, they will start to have negative associations with the dentist visits and become difficult. Make sure you stick to whatever interval your professional recommends so it remains a positive experience. It seems obvious to say sedate if the horse is in pain, but actually there are plenty of horses that will stand and allow you to work on them despite their pain, but this isn’t fair and is ethically wrong. Your professional may ask to sedate even though the horse appears to be behaving very well, but if the horse is in pain they should be sedated until the pain is relieved. It may be that after the cause of the pain is removed, the horse can be done awake in future. If I find a train wreck of a mouth I will always sedate before making any attempt at all. It isn’t fair to expect a horse to stand for 1+hours with their mouth open wide while treated. Consider the jaw ache you get when you visit the dentist and you’ll understand why. Again we don’t want to give the horse a negative association that will affect their behaviour in future. Some work requires the horse to stay absolutely still, for example diastema widening, wolf teeth extractions or infundibular fillings. Where even a few millimetres of movement could result in potentially dangerous injury to the horse. Obviously chemical restraint is an absolute must in these situations. I’m hoping those that read my post to the end will walk away carefully considering whether sedation is necessary or not for their horse. And remember a horse that needs sedation for dentistry is not a failure or a naughty horse, they simply have a sensitivity that should be respected. Equally, I hope the reader walks away, understanding that those capable of working on unsedated horses deserve extra respect not degradation. There is a place for both EDTs and vets with a passion for dentistry in the equine world. Both play a vital role and should not be arguing amongst themselves but rather trying to educate the public. And above all else remember that dentistry is basic care essential for all, it is not a luxury for some.