Periodontal Pockets and Treatment

Anyone ever have a horse diagnosed with periodontal "pockets" that has undergone treatment for it? One of mine was discovered to have a small one and the treatment consist of cleaning the pocket and packing it with an antibiotic substance, then capping it off like a temporary dental filling. It will then heal up on its own.

Vet said we could "wait and see" how he is at the next dental float or procede with the treatment, she left the decision up to me.

I am leaning towards having it done sooner rather than later as it must be uncomfortable with food getting wedged in it.

If anyone has any experience with this, I would love to hear about it.

I don't think what my horse had is quite the same, but he had a tooth that stuck sideways out of the arcade. There wasn't enough room for it. The vet pulled the tooth but the horse packed chewed grass in that spot for quite a while. I bought one of the things that looks like a grease gun and had to rinse his mouth twice a day. Eventually it healed up fine.

I'm with you; I think I'd go ahead and do the procedure. It might develop into something worse if you wait.

I decided to go ahead and get it fixed sooner rather than later, so I am waiting to hear back about the cost and appointment availability. He was good for his float, they really sedated him and propped up his head on two bags of shavings which was the perfect height. The vet then knelt down and went to work.

After, as the sedation was just about worn off, he just seemed happy to continue to rest his head there. His eyes however, were very BIG as he watched the equipment being cleaned and put away. He missed nothing!