Equine Dental instruments used by Roger Munnis

In the last 20 years equine dental instruments have been developed, engineered and modernised considerably.
There are 2 main types of equipment currently used by equine dentists. These are manual hand operated instruments and electrically powered instruments.
Many dentists prefer to use manual hand instruments usually referred to as ‘rasps’ or ‘floats’. These are a very effective and a more traditional instrument for performing dentistry. They tend to be tolerated much more readily by horses in general as they are not mechanised, do not make too much noise and unlike their electrical counterparts can be used either with or without a speculum. They are however limited in terms of access in certain cases and in most cases take longer to achieve a lesser standard of work than the electrical instruments.

Some dentists prefer to use electrically powered instruments that are usually referred to ‘disc floats’, ‘burrs’ or ‘power floats’. These are more efficient instruments for performing dentistry and can perform more advanced dentistry than the manually operated instruments. They are more aggressive, produce better results and are much more time efficient but do require the use of a speculum in the majority of cases and are not often accepted by horses unless they are sedated. Used in the correct manner electrical instruments are incredibly effective at correcting just about any dental problem a horse may have but their improper use can be absolutely catastrophic. At no time should anyone unfamiliar with them attempt to use them.