VetsOnCall - Horse dentist pulls fractured tooth
Like 5 Dislike 0 Published on 29 Jan 2015
Wellington needs dental surgery, and owner Vanessa is nervous. Wellington has been a family member for 16 years, he's like one of her kids. Now she senses Wellington is in pain, and she’s nervous he's about to be sedated and undergo surgery. So begins this special episode of Veterinarians On Call.
“I’m a horse trainer, I work with lots of clients,” Vanessa says. “Veterinarians help owners diagnose what’s bothering their horse.” Horses need regular dental care; problems with their teeth can degenerate into issues with digestion, weight, behavior, colic, choke, infection, and more.
Dr. Travis Henry sedates Wellington and takes x-rays, which show the fractured, decayed, infected tooth and abscess. The tooth needs to be removed before the infection spreads to Wellington’s sinus. But it won’t be simple, the tooth has been decaying so long, the adjacent teeth are crowding it.
“We’ll have to cut the tooth into smaller pieces and extract it that way,” the doctor says. Vanessa excuses herself for the surgery, afraid she’ll faint.
Veterinarians On Call is presented by Zoetis and features vets on the job and their clients across the U.S. who volunteered to be filmed, those appearing were not compensated to participate and the opinions expressed are theirs.
Directed by John Courtmanche and Produced by Dan Carey for Essex Television.