EQUINE DENTISTRY

Bob Livock is one of the most experienced and respected equine dentists.  He learnt equine dentistry whilst in the army.  After leaving the army he continued working as a professional equine dentist and was one of the founding people of this profession in the UK.  He frequently travels abroad to routinely rasp horse's teeth for many of the world's top riders.  He has been used by vets on numerous occasions to help sort out dentistry problems.

He has expanded the skill of rasping teeth beyond the point of simply removing sharp points to enable the teeth to be shaped according to the work required of the horse.  Bob does all rasping by hand tools and will not routinely use power tools because over the past two or three years he has noticed the damage that power tools can physically do to the teeth and the problems they frequently cause to the horse in it's ability to eat and work. Power tools cannot be used to shape the teeth properly and can cause additional sharp edges to form.  In Bob's professional opinion the use of power tools for routine rasping constitutes a welfare issue.

Bob holds Dental Clinics at Kington Langley Stud, please call for an appointment as he gets very booked up. 

Veterinary surgeon, Roger Meacock is usually present at these clinics in case your horse requires sedating for more technical dentistry work which can then be carried out on the day.  Roger is also available to treat your horse using natural healing techniques that have proved very successful in finding and treating complicated lameness problems and allergies amongst many other problems.  The techniques Roger uses can also speed the normal healing process for horses aiming to get back into work more quickly.  Kington Langley Stud will also take difficult cases or horses requiring more intensive treatment on an inpatient basis.  Working as a team, Roger, Bob and Tex have frequently managed to diagnose and treat horses to enable them to avoid more expensive and invasive investigative veterinary procedures and to avoid surgery.  If you are in any doubt as to whether your horse can be helped in this way please phone Roger for a realistic assessment and quote.

Tex Gamble is an experienced and renowned equine back manipulator and is usually available on request to Bob or Roger.

Please call

Bob Livock:  07768 262434

Roger Meacock:  07866 687296 

Please book your times in advance.

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 Horse owners information listed below

Why should I have my horse's teeth rasped?

The manner in which a horse eats causes the teeth to self-sharpen. This because the lower jaw is narrower than the top jaw and the teeth do not fully overlap during chewing.  Therefore the outside of the top teeth never get ground down and continue to grow out into the flesh of the cheek causing ulcers and sores.  When you ride your horse and try to take up contact with the bit the flesh of the cheeks will be pulled onto the sharp edges of the teeth especially because the bridle line is directly over the line of the sharp edges of the teeth.  This will be very painful and your horse will try every trick in the book to avoid the pain.  Sharp teeth are therefore a welfare issue as well as a performance issue.  The teeth need to be rasped and shaped.

Your horse's teeth should be rasped from the age of two years old if racing or three years old if the horse is not going to be broken before.  The majority of horses require six monthly rasping to prevent the teeth getting too sharp and to maximise your horse's performance.  Bob will be able to tell you if you need to alter the timing between rasps depending on your individual horse.

Your horse's mouth will be changing on a regular basis from the age of 2 years old to 5 years old because milk teeth are discarded and different teeth come into wear at diffferent times.

Sharp teeth can effect your horse in a number of ways.  If your horse shows any of the following signs you will need to get your horse's teeth checked.

• quidding (dropping food), loose droppings, weight loss, regular bouts of colic, smelly breath, unilateral nasal discharge, behavioural changes, head-shaking, unusual bony swellings on the nose or lower jaw, excessive watering of one eye or hair discolouration around the eye.
• Horse avoiding the bit, favouring one rein, rearing, wheeling, stiffness in the back, asymmetry of the head or body, a head tilt when ridden, bolting, blood on the bit

Your horse is more likely to need Bob's skills as an equine dentist apart from rasping when it is young between the ages of 2 and 5 years old when its mouth is changing the most.

Sometimes milk caps are not shed on their own (often found as bits of tooth on your yard!) and Bob uses special instruments like tongs to remove them.  Occasionally bits of milk cap can remain in the gum alongside the teeth and need removing.  Milk caps can cause painful pressure on the tooth below if not removed.

Trauma to the jaw bone in front of the upper cheek teeth can result in the formation of bone spurs.  This can be caused by the use of a Chiffany bit or other trauma.  Continued aggrevation by the bit will cause the body to continue laying down more bone in reaction to this.  Bone spurs will cause pain as the gum is trapped between the bulging bone spur and the bit.  In the worst case scenario your horse will rear up and fall over backwards on top of you and can cause severe injury to you and/or your horse.  Bob routinely checks for the presence of bone spurs and removes them under sedation to prevent accidents occurring for this reason. 

A unilateral (one-sided) nasal discharge is most frequently caused by an infected cheek tooth root setting up an infection in the nasal sinus above the tooth.  In long-standing cases there can be distortion of the nasal bone itself which is seen as a bony swelling on the side of the nose corresponding to the side of the nasal discharge.  The nasal sinus then drains into the nostril especially when the horse puts its head down.  Consequently the discharge is most copious and frequently seen at the beginning of the day.  A smelly, green/yellow discharge is not unusual and requires the removal of the offending infected tooth.  Teeth can become infected through being cracked.  This is being seen more fequently with the increased use of power tools for routine teeth rasping.  Once the offending tooth has been removed the nasal discharge will usually resolve without further problems.  Bob can usually remove cheek teeth using specially designed dental instruments under sedation.  Removal of cheek teeth is a major job and is not cheap.  Once a cheek tooth has been removed it is even more important to keep on top of the routine rasping situation thereafter.  Prevention is always better than cure and you are strongly advised to maintain your horse's 6 monthly routine rasping and avoid the use of power tools for this job.

Wolf teeth will adversely effect your horse's performance and should always be removed.  They are variable is size and sometimes unilateral. They are relatively easily removed under sedation.

Bob is also able to deal with more serious traumas including repairing broken jaws.  Horses which have previously had a broken jaw may require a special shaping of the teeth to allow the horse to use its jaw properly in work.  Bob is happy to discuss any adverse or unusual situation that you encounter with your horse's head to establish the likelihood of any dental involvement.  There aren't many situations he has not encountered and dealt with over the years.