And I am mortified. It would seem Dolly has TMD - the jaw on her left side almost totally locked and has probably been like that to a lesser degree for several years. I have had her four years, and apart from one wiz kid who trained for a couple of weeks in America or somewhere, I have always used my vet. The dentist thinks she probably rarely if ever had her teeth done before she came to me.
So he said he didnt want to sedate her as this altered the shape of the jaw and he needed it 'as is' to work correctly to rectify the locking jaw. Much to my surprise she allowed work with power tools and apart from her chest shivering likie a jelly she allowed him do do what he needed. He was very gentle and kind, she responded well to that approach.
He reeled off all the minor problems I have had with her and confirmed my suspicion that something was very wrong in her mouth/head region. She will now need a physio or TTouch person to help her realign all her muscles on her left hand side - her shoulder in particular that I suspected last summer she was shoulder lame, as did my vet.....apparently just a typical ongoing compensation from her poor misaligned jaw. Apparently her floppy bottom lip is also a good sign that she has this problem. (If only I had known or my vet had known!!) She has been doing that since she was a three year old! Also very stiff on left rein, not very good at extending trot, very short and choppy if she strikes off on that leg......the list goes on and on.
So he will be back in six months, but expects I will see a difference in her within a couple of weeks, but even more difference when we are getting the physio side done. Sadly she will never be 100 per cent on that side, as the muscle and tendons and all soft tissue will have formed around the jaw over several years but with regular dental alignment and physio she will be far more comfortable and supple and able to maintain an outline and work properly. This is apparently a common thing over here that he sees, particularly in hunters that rarely see a dentist and have years and years of compensation in their way of going purely because oif this sort of mouth problem, but nobody cares, they will still jump a ditch and gallop with the hounds sop whats the problem?
I feel so guilty I didnt research more and get a properly qualified EDT out to her, I placed too much trust in my vet......but as my OH said 'Well you wouldnt expect your GP to tell you if you needed root canal treatment?' I guess that is true, but my confidence in him is shaken badly.
So he said he didnt want to sedate her as this altered the shape of the jaw and he needed it 'as is' to work correctly to rectify the locking jaw. Much to my surprise she allowed work with power tools and apart from her chest shivering likie a jelly she allowed him do do what he needed. He was very gentle and kind, she responded well to that approach.
He reeled off all the minor problems I have had with her and confirmed my suspicion that something was very wrong in her mouth/head region. She will now need a physio or TTouch person to help her realign all her muscles on her left hand side - her shoulder in particular that I suspected last summer she was shoulder lame, as did my vet.....apparently just a typical ongoing compensation from her poor misaligned jaw. Apparently her floppy bottom lip is also a good sign that she has this problem. (If only I had known or my vet had known!!) She has been doing that since she was a three year old! Also very stiff on left rein, not very good at extending trot, very short and choppy if she strikes off on that leg......the list goes on and on.
So he will be back in six months, but expects I will see a difference in her within a couple of weeks, but even more difference when we are getting the physio side done. Sadly she will never be 100 per cent on that side, as the muscle and tendons and all soft tissue will have formed around the jaw over several years but with regular dental alignment and physio she will be far more comfortable and supple and able to maintain an outline and work properly. This is apparently a common thing over here that he sees, particularly in hunters that rarely see a dentist and have years and years of compensation in their way of going purely because oif this sort of mouth problem, but nobody cares, they will still jump a ditch and gallop with the hounds sop whats the problem?
I feel so guilty I didnt research more and get a properly qualified EDT out to her, I placed too much trust in my vet......but as my OH said 'Well you wouldnt expect your GP to tell you if you needed root canal treatment?' I guess that is true, but my confidence in him is shaken badly.
