Hmmm...interesting! Who'd have thought! Dental/Stifle Related Problems

[Mona]

I just came across this and found it interesting. Thought I'd share. Can never have enough ideas when something goes wrong! A possible connection between dental problems and locking stifles!

http://horsedentalcare.com/locked_stifles

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Mona,

I read the side article about ear sensitivity. My new horse had very sensitive ears. She would hardly let me handle them at all. It's been 4 weeks since her dental checkup, where she had some issues, and now there is no sensitivity in the ears at all. She lets me handle them fine and even could care less about clipping them. I was giving myself kudos for my training technique and perhaps it was a dental issue!

 

[Mona]

WOW Marsha, that is REALLY interesting!! Funny how so many things can be related, yet we wouldn't think of them! Thanks for sharing that.

 

[Riverdance]

Interesting. I have a 3 year old colt that last fall, all of the sudden had a stifle issue. He was shown as a yearling with no problems. I thought that perhaps something happened during the shipping from MN to Florida. Anyway, it did not get better and I had the surgery done on both stifles and had him gelded. Maybe it was his teeth.

 

[Eagle]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing

 

[MiLo Minis]

I have found that about 90% of problems with horses that I have in for training are caused by a dental issue of one kind or another. It makes total sense when you consider that to avoid pain from the bit a horse will carry himself slightly off kilter which throws everything else out of whack. I can easily see how a stifle issue could result from a dental problem even without the bit being involved as they carry their head slightly tilted to avoid pain.

 

[rosaroca]

A few years back, my friend Leesa had a Quarter Horse mare with a urinary problem. She continually dripped urine and had even scalded her hind legs. After treatment and 2 runs of antibiotics that failed to correct the problem, our vet looked at her teeth and found one broken down into the gum line. She pulled it. The urinary problem cleared up immediately and has not returned.

 

[Mona]

WOW, these stories are unbelieveable. Thanks for sharing everyone!

 

[Flying minis]

It makes sense though, what is worse than pain in your mouth? You will do all kinds of things to avoid it. And tooth and gum infections even in people have been shown to cause a host of other problems, it's basically living with a chronic infection, which overstresses your immune systrem, and causes related problems not just do to the infection, but to the immune system issues. One thing my doctor recommends for my MS is to have regular dental checkups and cleanings, to avoid continuous immune system activity. So it makes sense it would be the same for the horses.

 

[Zoey3]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing! I have a yearling that as weaning when her stifle locked up(just that one time so far), so thats good to know.

 

[wildoak]

Talking to a big horse vet/dental specialist recently, and the first thing he does - before he opens a horses mouth - is to check the poll and upper face area for irregularities. The ear sensitivity would make sense, as a horse with dental pain is not chewing equally on both sides and will create stress and pain in other places. Think TMJ.

Jan