Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-12-20
THE TRAVELLING VETERINARY
DENTIST

portant and legitimate branch of vet
Urinary science its relation tt the other
departments can scarcely be compared
to the relations of human dentistry. 10
human medicine or surgery
AS = rule there are Il few eases. com
paratiNely, where animals suffer from
ltoothache in the sense that ,he humans
suffer. This may he accounted Tor by
the fact that with age. the pulD cavity
in The animal is filled up with dentine
SO that by the time the auilnai reaches
middle life there will be- no nerves in
the teeth. they and otiler soft parts
having been replaced by d~eniine. Again
decay t~caries) of the teeth in lower ami
mails is comparatively rare This is
probably due TO the fact That they do
not have such "A varied diet and do
not eat such quantities OF hot food or
FOOD containing more or less acids. Nor
is the veterinary dentist called upon
10 repair or replace teeth for appear
ahces sake as is so Frequently lone in
human dentistry. But there are some
conditions. that so far as the usefulness
or the animal are concerned. enlan
attention and correction. Among which
may be mentioned retention of old
crowns of the milk teeth a split tooth.
Il tooth with AN apSCess OF the root.
usually termed an liberated fang. ~
long tooth and sharp edges. while the
latter two do not cause pain in the
sense of toothache. they all demand at
tention because they interfere to i.
greater or less degree with the proper
Observation-Disclosures the food. and
when the food is not properly niasti-
Gated. the digestive system is over
Taxed and the animal does not get ANY,
Where as much benefit from the food it
eats as II should. In other words when
llhe 1000 is not properly masticated
more or less of ii passes through the
animal undigested and consequently is
lost. ="
with these facts before us. tho
question arises, what should be done?
ANA me answers are. if the tooth has
an liberated fang or is split. it should
be drawn; if temporary crowns are moi
properl shed they should be re-
moVed If there Is one or more teeth
on a jaw that are longer than they
should be they should be cut off and
ane rough sharp edges should be
smoothed off. or in case the outer.
edges OF upper or lower edges of the
under teeth become so sharp as to
penetrate the check or tongue they
should be raSped off.
But these operations should be done
by a competent veterinarian. who is a
permanent resident of the community.
when IT is practical to secure the serv.
ices of such Il nan But the itinerant
veterinary dentist. whose qualifications
are Unknown and whose only recom-
mendation is Il large case full of mys-
ferrous looking instruments and whose
greatest proof of work is the fact that
lhe can lacerate the mouth sufficiently
70 cause a more or less profuse bleed-
ing. Such men are in Il place but a
few days at a time and their object is
as a rule To get all the money tina they
can, whether an operation is Indicated
or not. Such men usually pretend that
every horses mouth that they examine
needs some correcting. and as a rule
the stronger they urge the case the
/ less need there is of any work hajnp
done. because they can get a good price
for doing comparatively little. on the
other hand there is another class who
have no knowledge of the normal con-
ldition of the teeth and who believe.
or at least try to max the owner be-
ilieve, that the tuble (grinding) sur
face of the teeth should be smooth.
and who will rasp and cut away until
the whole tube surface is compara-
lively smooth. Now the facts are that
the tuble surface should be rough. so
that the food will be crushed easier
and more thoroughly. If you will no.
tice the teeth in a natural, healthy jaw
OF the horse you will find that the
teeth being higher on the in
side and the upper teeth lower
on theoutside, so that when chewing
the food there is a slight sliding mo-
ton when the teeth come together. This
not only brushes the food but also
grinds it. whereby the particles of food
are broken up much finer, and the
finer the food is ground, other things
being equal, the more readily and COM
pletely 1t Is masticated. When some
over Jealous or ignorant travelling den
list with his complete kit of tools
goes to work md sniooths the whole
tooth tuble the poor animal canno
possibly grind it's food properly. and
probably not nearly so we'll as before
being operated upon. yet this i'm
,,nctn,. with his pI-ny uh,1DIa - ,c .,l-
and instruments. VIII explain to the
nnsophisticated horse owner what a
fine operation he has performed. When
q horse Is seen to pass whole grains Of
oats or corn or holds his head to one
side while eating, or takes an unusual
length of time to eat his feed there is
an indication that something is wrong
with his teeth: he should then be ak
en-. when practical. 10 some competent
veterinary entist Who has Il perma-
nent residence. and consequently a
reputation at stake. and who will give
the owner n correct account of the
conditions present. md who has The
knowledge of how To correct the errors
as far as practical and WHO VIII charge
Il reasonable fee for his work. whereas
a case taken to the ordinary travelling
veterinary dentist is always or nearly
always reported To be in Z much worse
condition thar ii reilly is. 50 thai a
larger fee may he objected. He does
not expect to see his victim again and
consequently he car'S nothing for the
results after he haS secured what
money he can.
m of the greatest gratis of this
class of men is that IF floating all the
horses on the place, for the facts are
that usually only a snail per cent. OF
the horses usually need any floating.
and those that do simply need the
rough outside edge II the upper and
inside edge of the lower teeth taken
off. and usually such an operation can
be easily and readily done without
much Inconvenience to the animal. and
if properly done. without injury to the