A dental appointment usually takes 45 minutes. Sedation is used for all examinations and treatments and the relaxation gradually wears off. Dental Vet has excellent facilities for horses to enjoy their stay. During the recovery they are hand walked in our recovery paddocks and can relax in the yards or stable. Horses can enjoy a drink but any feed is withheld until completely awake.

Horses can safely travel 20 minutes after the appointment has finished. Dental Vet will guide you in this. For home visits, the same aftercare applies. Should you not have yards or stables, please consider where and how you can keep your horses safe and without grass hay and any other feed during their recovery.

Horses eat normally after a dental treatment and can be ridden as usual the next day. Any corrections are done effectively but without damaging the teeth or soft tissues or causing stress on the joints and supporting muscles. Some treatments such as periodontal (gum) treatments may cause discomfort and Dental Vet will advise you of the aftercare needed for these cases.

Please consider that many restricted veterinary medicines carry a withhold for competitions and racing so book your routine appointment at least 7 days prior to such event.

All advanced dental procedures and extractions are done in the standing, sedated horse with nerve blocks in place to cancel out any feeling to the affected areas. Horses accept this very well. After the procedure the relaxation and nerve blocks gradually wear off and horses are kept in the safe yards or stable during this time. After horses are completely awake and the feeling to the mouth has returned, they go into the recovery paddock.

Generally, they start eating with vigour as soon as they are given access, something that never ceases to amaze Marieke. Usually horses are kept on a diet of grass or hay in the weeks after surgery. In case of extractions, a large cheek tooth socket heals completely in approximately 6 weeks. Amazing! Horses go back into work with a new lease on life: the list of mediocre, grumpy or quiet horses cleaning up competitions a few weeks after extraction is impressive. This is in stark contrast to the much-peddled belief that dental problems are ‘just’ something horses have to live with or that dental procedures are high risk with poor outcomes.

Most procedures are day procedures: horses arrive on the morning of the procedure and return home in the afternoon. Dental Vet has safe recovery paddocks available to horses that stay several days. The local facilities at Silver Linings Equestrian are available to horses that require aftercare or rehabilitation for longer periods of time.