Debbie Linton had spent most of her life around horses by the time a 3-year-old reared up and flipped over on her, breaking her back. He’d been sent to several trainers, who’d all labeled him a bad apple, and finally Linton sent him to natural horsemanship trainer Red Revelle.

“I’d had his teeth examined and was told he was fine,” Linton said. “But Red said he had some serious stuff going on.”

Once his two impacted wolf teeth and retained deciduous caps were removed, the horse posed no problems, and Revelle sent him home.

“I started thinking, ‘I need to know more about [teeth]–if I’d known, I wouldn’t have broken my back,” said Linton. “The more I checked into it, the more interested I got.”

Linton, who was working as a registered nurse at the time, completed a course in equine dentistry and then apprenticed for more than a year with a dental technician certified by the International Association of Equine Dentistry.

For anyone interested in equine dentistry, Linton recommends starting by contacting a local veterinarian. “You need to find out what the need is for a technician in your area,” she said. “You have to have the support of vets.”

Then, she recommends riding with a certified dental technician. “You can see what it is and how physical it is before you invest in school and your tools,” she said.

Now that Linton, 40, of Remington, Va., runs her own business–Quality Equine Dental Care–she has no regrets about leaving her life as a registered nurse behind. “It was a huge need [for qualified technicians], and honestly, I like the patients better,” she said with a laugh. “I’m so animal- and outdoor-oriented.”

She’s been working as a technician for 14 years and has been certified for 12 years. She also has an associate who works with her, Vernon Beamer. Although she’s rarely advertised, she said she could work seven days a week, based on word of mouth and referrals from veterinarians.

Linton enjoys the immediate gratification of seeing a problem and fixing it–and making life better for the horse. “You see a horse who couldn’t eat, and by the time you leave they’re mowing down hay, and when you see them again, they’ve gained 100 pounds,” she said. “The animals are so appreciative.”

Linton lives with her husband, Doug Linton, a horse trainer, at their Quarter-Mor Farm. She enjoys making her own hours but cites the disadvantages of any small business–paying for her own health insurance and paying her own quarterly taxes. She has the good fortune of having Robin Bickel as a secretary, but she added that most technicians must come home after working all day and, after taking inventory of the truck and cleaning her instruments, return calls and confirm appointments for several hours.

“It’s extremely physical, and if you’re even medium to frail, you can forget it,” she added. “It’s stamina more than anything. The majority of work is done by hand, and you have to be physically fit. When you first start, you can maybe do one or two horses a day.” She now averages 10 horses a day.

Certification isn’t currently mandatory for dental technicians, but Linton highly recommends it as a long-term goal for anyone in the field. “It shows your clients you have passed a pretty tough test by a panel of certified technicians and vets,” she said. “It’s important to have gone the extra mile because your work and the quality of your work matters.”

The test lasts three days and includes written and practical exams. The International Association of Equine Dentistry provides a list of certified equine dental technicians and schools in each state.

“There are other things I can do for a living, but I’d encourage anyone to get into this,” she said. “I do have a passion for this profession.”