© Peter Borgdorff 1984-2010
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Click this button if you cannot see the navigation bar on the left. Last update: 1 March 2010.
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Voice your opinion: Report into the Dec. 2008 Israeli incursion into the blockaded Gaza Strip presented to the UN’s Human Rights Council concludes:“....conduct of the Israeli armed forces constitute grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of wilful killings. (Click here to access what is known as the 'Goldstone Report') Abuses on Both Sides Unpunished: Human Rights Watch |
International Equine Dentistry Training. 
Responsible
Dental Treatment. The filing of molar teeth needs to be rendered with care in order to preserve the horse's ability to chew. These grinding surfaces, also known as tables, are shown here and you can enlarge them by clicking on them:
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| The upper and lower molar tables meet together and are naturally rough to enable the horse to grind the feed into small particles. They consist of materials of different hardness which cause higher and lower areas. The objective of correcting molar bite abnormalities is to keep these grinding surfaces as intact as possible. A horse without molar table roughness cannot grind its feed. The Australian Equine Dental Practice promotes 'staged treatment'; this means bite abnormalities are corrected over a longer period of time. This may be the case when a horse is treated for wave mouth or shearbite. |
It is the policy of
affiliates of the Australian Equine Dental Practice not to break the
law by supplying or administering 'supply restricted' drugs to
your horse. Rarely does a horse need to be sedated due to
experienced handling and limited treatment duration. However, if
this is necessary an equine veterinary surgeon can be arranged on
your behalf. If you
want to report unlawful veterinary drug supply or use in Australia
click here:
Our Policy
-Equipment.The reduction of tooth
length with cutting forceps may cause deep tooth or bone
fractures. We do not use these forceps, nor do we use dremel
type grinders to grind down the first molar teeth. In order
to provide bit comfort, the first molars are corrected by filing
manually, thus preventing the need for tranquillisers except on
infrequent occasions. More information on the Methods page.
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The Association of Equine Dental Practitioners (Aust) Inc. has put a structure in place to regulate those who operate as equine dentists. The Equine Dental Practitioners Board is currently being established to issue annual licences and to strictly regulate equine dentists who have to meet educational and practical experience criteria. The Code of Practice clearly defines many standards of horse care and practice management. The administration of sedatives is, and always has been, illegal; the association does not want this legislation to be changed. The use of non-watercooled power tools is prohibited as are excessive molar filing and routine incisor cutting. The EDP Board will also inform the public about its role, in order to direct the public towards licensed equine dentists. A regulation under the Veterinary Practice Act 2003 was recently introduced. A last minute public and industry response caused this regulation to be modified. However, it falls short of protecting horses from damage by devices such as industrial grinders which are not continuously water-cooled. There is evidence that as little as 2 minutes grinding may cause irrepairable harm to the tooth by destroying tissue in the pulp cavity. As well as that, the present devices lack tactile feedback and often cause excessive removal of material from the occlusal surfaces.
More
information is now available on
this site about training to become an Equine Dentist. Whether you
are a Veterinary Surgeon and would like to do a Postgraduate course or
whether you are experienced with horses and want to train for a
Certificate you will find more information by clicking the Career
Choice on the navigation bar on the left. Apply early so you don't miss out on a place.
Training with the
Australian Equine Dental Practice has been a stepping stone to a career
as an Equine Dentist by a number of people. Where
consideration of the horse takes priority and the manner of
treatment is widely respected, there are valid grounds to consider
this training. We endeavour to teach genuine candidates a caring approach that uses
effective methods which respect the natural structure of equine
dentition with the aim of correcting abnormal dental
conformation. No other persons are accredited by Peter to teach
these methods. The word 'academy' or 'school' is not used, because
there is no government accreditation for this training. The next training intake is closing soon. Check Career Choice
Western Australia Gains Certified Equine Dentist.  Hayden Reeves, Certified Equine Dentist completed his 6 month training in 2008 and is operating his own practice in Western Australia.
He visits the region south of Perth, including locations such as Bunbury, Rockingham, Armadale, Pinjarra, Mundijong, Kwinana Dardanup and Busselton. He treats all horses quietly and carefully. He considers each horse as an individual and takes pride in his work aiming to achieve better equine health and performance. Hayden is know for his fastidious attention to detail.
Nutrition for Horses including the Older Horse. David
Nash BSc (Equine Nutrition) provides some useful information pertaining
to equine nutrition on the Hygain Australia web site. The segment on
feeding older horses is relevant to many who question their nutritional
requirements. There is good reason for an older horse to have
compromised nutritional uptake, as David writes: "....The ability to manufacture or absorb certain vitamins also seems to decrease
as horse's age. Researchers suspect that the decrease of gut microflora
compromises the ability of the horse to manufacture his own B vitamins
(normally produced in abundance) as well as vitamin C (ascorbic acid),
which is important for the horse's immune function. A healthy horse manufactures
sufficient quantities of his own vitamin C, but many older horses, which
suffer from pituitary dysfunction (a common result of the aging process)
show low blood levels of C, which might make them vulnerable to viral
infections.
Geriatric horses can also suffer from decreased kidney and/or liver function, both of which can have an effect on nutrient utilization. Horses are unique in that they excrete excess dietary calcium in their urine, not in their manure as most other species do-so if kidney function becomes impaired, stones of calcium oxalate can build up in the kidney or bladder. There also is the potential for calcium to build up to dangerous levels in the bloodstream. Horses with kidney failure need to be placed on a low calcium diet (less than 0.45% of the overall ration), and protein and phosphorus also should be reduced (to less than 10%, and less than 0.3%, respectively), contrary to the usual recommendations for older horses...." All
categories of horses are dealt with and in the articles you can read
about mycotoxins, fibre, herbs and colic, just to name a few. A clear
section on the horse's digestive system explains its functions.
Petalia for Reliable Information. Occasionally
a site is chosen for good content and the Petalia site is worth a
mention. It provides information about interesting topics and is
easily readable. Petalia Australia is a comprehensive resource of
professional pet, equine and farm animal advice, information and
products online. It features accurate and reliable animal health
information, interactive tools and products recommended by
veterinarians, a secure online shopping facility and a vet locator to
find and communicate with your veterinarian online.
The University of Sydney
Veterinary Education and Information Network (VEIN) was launched at the
beginning of May, 2001. VEIN is an information service for
veterinary and animal scientists, and allied animal health
professionals, with a focus on access to high quality information
and lifelong learning. Services are provided on and off the
Web. VEIN is of particular relevance to professionals based in
Australasia.
As equine dentist, I am concerned about a number of issues relating to the drought that I have encountered. These issues can affect the condition and behaviour of your horse(s). These relatively common issues are:
The American Journal of
the Veterinary Medical Association reported about a study by Drs
Traub-Dargatz, Kopral et al. about the US national incidence of and
operation risk factors for colic among horses from 1998-1999. It
says:"The annual national incidence of colic in the US horse population
was estimated to be 4.2 colic events/100 horses per year. Case fatality
rate was 11% and 1.4% of colic events resulted in surgery."
That colic is suffered by so many horses is a cause for deep
concern when one considers the pain and trauma to both horses and
owners. The report further states that it is costing the US an
amount of AU$205.000.000 per year. Especially in older horses
correct dental maintenance and dietary planning can vastly reduce the
incidence of colic. A significant number of calls to this practice are made by people who suspect that their horse's inability to masticate feed properly may have been the cause of a past occurrrence of colic. It is especially important to be aware that a horse with dental problems is unable to grind grass or hay into short fibres and will often swallow long fibred tight packets of feed which may cause bowel obstruction. There is also some concern that horses with decomposing feed lodged in abnormal cravasses between teeth may ingest large bacterial loads which may affect proper digestion and increase the likelihood of colic.
Find
Horse Information the Easy Way. For those of you who
scratch their head trying to find good horse information on the
Internet, here are some hints. As voluntary editor for
the Open Directory Project, the world's largest human edited directory,
I recommend it to view information by category. You can also
search at the top of each page. Here are some interesting
categories from DMOZ Open Directory: Health-Animal-Mammals-Equine-Dentists Another very good way of finding information is to use the extensive search features of: GOOGLE Advanced Search A great Australian site is the Horse Directory , it has sensible categories with most Australian information you may be searching for.
Veterinarians
and Dentistry.Dr Geoff Tucker has specialized in equine dentistry for a few years now and, like many of us, he has developed his own techniques. He has said to me many times that he is not in favour of aggressive treatment methods and that we need to respect natural (dental) structures. I quote this from his web site http://www.theequinepractice.com/ :
In Australia there are
more than 1.2 million horses used for racing, equestrian sports, and
recreation and there is a large breeding industry. The horse
industry is worth more than $15 billion a year.
The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) offers support for equine research and development projects across Australia, with many projects being undertaken into subjects such as infectious diseases, reproduction, nutrition, injuries, drug development and lameness.
©
Copyright Peter Borgdorff 1984-2008 |
