Dr. Marx and Paul were extraordinarily conscientious, kind and efficient while floating and performing extractions for our 3 horses today. We have an 8 yr old, a 20 yr old and a 28 yr old. The 20 yr old's mouth is a complete mess from 12 years of dental neglect before we got her. Dr. Marx spent all the time she required to do as much work on her teeth as he could in 1 visit, and left us with 2 months' worth of periodontal mouth rinse for her to help heal her diseased gums. He will be back in a few months to continue the work she needs. Our 28 year old is a pretty straightforward "old guy" and needed a couple extractions and some sharp areas rounded off. Dr. Marx made his old teeth as comfortable as possible for his age, and everything looked very nice when he was done. He gave us lots of tips specific to each horse to help their mouths "age" as healthfully as possible. I hope he never retires so we can keep having him come out and do our horses' teeth 🙂In case you are wondering: Dr Marx uses an irrigated power float tool that keeps a stream of cool water running over the teeth as he floats them and prevents the teeth from heating up. When using non-irrigated tools, he spends only a second or two in each small area to avoid heating up the tooth, and we only smelled anything once in the several hours he was working on our horses (my mare had a large, sharply pointed lower molar tooth that had grown into a gap in her upper jaw that needed to be taken way down and that was the only time he stayed in one spot long enough for the tooth to heat up to where we could smell it) -- for all other areas of their mouths, he would do multiple short passes of each tiny spot, feeling all of the the edges in between passes so that he was sure it got smoothed out enough without spending too long grinding on any one spot. They also use a portable stanchion so your horse can lean comfortably on its padded walls while they work! Much preferable to drunken staggering around the barn yard and requires less sedation because the horses are kept so still and calm. They take lots of breaks and add a little sedation every time the horse starts to wake up at all. We never saw them argue with any of our 3 horses (even the "young guy" who woke up a little at the end of his treatment -- they just gave him more sedation and waited 5 minutes, then finished up the last few minutes of his work with him totally blissed out. I thought that was very kind of them to do, as they could have just muscled through it instead of taking the extra time to keep him nice and comfortable).Dr. Marx's assistant, Paul, patiently and gently held up our horses' heads, held their [uncooperative] tongues to the side during the dental work, and helped Dr. Marx with the equipment and set up / tear down. He thoroughly cleaned all the tools between each of our horses, and before storing them neatly at the end. Both men were *always* kind to our horses, even when they were completely "knocked out", shooing flies off their eyelids, repositioning lazy feet over & over without getting frustrated, and handling the speculum and other tools carefully so there was never any unnecessary banging of their mouths and jaws, even when the horses were fully sedated. Paul held all 3 horses before and after sedation with great care, and was very gentle and patient while handling them during the work. He told us stories about his mule, his horses and his lab (dog) while we waited 🙂 It was evident how much he loves his own animals, and he treated all of our animals very well. We visited with our horses this evening, after the sedation had worn off, and they were all back to normal. All 3 were eating with gusto, happy, and bumping us for cookies... It was obvious that they all felt great after the work they'd had done earlier in the day, and we are so grateful that the 2 older horses won't be in pain while eating any longer. The youngster had some small points and hooks, and some sharp canines that they buffed down for him, and he was inhaling his hay and nickering at us this evening like nothing had happened.These guys will take great care of your horses' mouths, and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone. Tip: Call 2 months in advance, they book up fast!
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