Legislation Currently in Great Britain, a wide variety of people perform equine dental procedures. Some may be well trained and appropriately qualified Equine Dental Technicians, some may be Veterinary Surgeons, some are both, and some may be very inexperienced people who have had minimal training, but nevertheless perform very advanced dental procedures, sometimes damaging equine teeth. On some occasions they cause serious, even life-threatening injuries to horses’ jaws, mouths and throats. Other people (sometimes referred to as 'tooth raspers' because that is basically all they are legally allowed to do in the UK) just perform simple Category 1 procedures such as rasping off small dental overgrowths.
Category 1 Equine Dental Procedures: These procedures may be carried out by anyone, irrespective of whether they have undertaken any training or have any qualifications.
A further group of procedures has been deemed suitable to be performed by Equine Dental Technicians that have passed a Defra approved examination such as the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) / British Veterinary Dental Association (BVDA) exam. (In order to join the BAEDT, this exam must be passed). At the present time, the BAEDT is the only association for equine dental technicians that the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) endorses, and encourages its members to support. These further procedures are designated as Category 2 procedures and are listed below:
Category 2 Equine Dental Procedures: These are additional procedures that are suitable for delegation to an EDT who has trained and passed an examination approved by DEFRA:
Further details are available from the BEVA headquarters: Web. www.beva.org.uk Phone. 01638 723555
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