Mallory has been with me almost 2 years now, and for most of that time she has been telling me that chewing is uncomfortable. I had her teeth filed by a horse dentist about a month after she came. Then a second filing a few months later. And yet another filing by a vet about 8 months after that. Still she let me know chewing was not comfortable. Better, for sure, but not right. (I am not implying that these professionals didn't do a good job; the issue in her mouth was complicated and was not easily resolved.)
In the summer of 2012 she started limping with her hind legs. The vet said it was locking stifles (knees). He told us to walk up and down hills everyday. That helped but she was still sore.
Then, I talked with a horse chiropractor, Bud Allen, and I asked him which I should do first; another dental or an adjustment for the hind end. He said dental first. So I hired a third dentist to come check her out. He does things a bit differently than the other dental filings she had had. He uses a Dremel tool. He felt he could help her but the proposed job had risks. He was going to file down some teeth quite a bit and whether it helped or not, the job was irreversible. Mallory and I felt it was worth a chance; she really wanted to feel better.
So we did it! And the week following the dental was not great. She had trouble chewing. She had a bit of liquid in her manure due to the lack of chewing her food well. I was worried but she said she had much less pain. She and I decided it was a matter of her getting used to chewing in a new way. Sure enough, after one week she stopped dropping her food and her manure firmed up.
You haven't heard the best part yet; her locking stifles resolved within three days of doing the dental! I never even needed to have the chiropractic adjustment. Bud Allen had told me that the jaw and hind quarters interact with one another but this result blew me away.
Needless to say, Mallory and I are very happy with the results. But I do want you to know that this is a personal, individual story, and is not meant to be advice about dentals or locking stifles. And Mallory and I promised each other before the "extreme" dental that we would not look back with regret if it didn't work. Of course it did work, but I am sure we would have kept our promise if it hadn't.