Thursday, January 31, 2008

Tartar Build-up on Your Horse's Teeth.

In this article, veterinarian Dr. Mary Delorney DVM says, "Your veterinarian can show you how to remove any tartar between visits". Tartar on a horse's teeth is not a serious matter but will seal off the gums from oxygen and may eventually cause rot. And I think this comment shows that, with a little advice from your vet or your favorite equine dental technician, you need not go to any great expense to remove the tartar from you horses teeth; in the rare event that it has any.

Wow, here is an excellent veterinarian equine dental site I just ran across, that says, "This website was created for the horse owner who wants to learn". That's encouraging.

Well this should assuage a few fears about tartar on equine teeth.

Tartar build-up is not associated with poor care but rather specific internal organ complications of the kidney and liver. Old age can bring on these problems as well.

There has been some documentation in non-equine, small animal and human dentistry, that toxins released from infected gum tissue, do have a systemic affect on the heart and other organs, through bacterial release from infected gums and decaying teeth. These "bacterial showers" may initiate such conditions as endocarditis, kidney problems, etc. These conditions would follow sizable periods of significant infection and be accompanied by noticeable decay, foul smelling breath, and fever. This type of decay is very noticeable and treatable well before it reaches a dangerous stage.

I'm looking forward to getting back to this as soon as possible with a little more information on the misconceptions that exist regarding tartar on the horses teeth - such as tartar build-up leading to any kind of nerve damage in the gumline. I will then just add that information to this post, and then add the word "updated" to the title. So I will see you then.

1 comment:

Juliana HADORN said...

I have a 21 yr. old morgan gelding come up withsome abnormalities in his lastest blood work . kidney , and red and white cell abnormalty ( i dont know exact details , i dont have the records) and he is just a little anemic . has lost weight this summer as he did 3 summers ago , and muscle losage and mane and tail lose . i am extremely worried . he was my dressage horse till i got sick and had a heart attack back in 015 . he is a big 16 hand chestnut with lots of good breeding for a morgan ... he has turn out by himself , i have one other horse whom i bought from a trainer in NY , came to us with met. syndrom and bunch of other stuff and was sick for 3 yrs. but anyway this older guy needs help and i dont know what to do . this knowledge has come to me via vet visit yesterday . we are trying to get a urine sample . no luck yet . thank you if you respond . Julie Hadorn by the way . i take very good care of my boys , no kids just me and hubby , we have gotten old but keep on with things . we have our own place and i would like to see these horses i have left LIVE .