|
The Importance of Maintaining The Health Of Your
Horse's Mouth
Routine
dental care is essential to your horse's health. Periodic examinations and regular
maintenance, such as floating, are especially necessary today for a number of
reasons:
- We have modified the horse's diet and eating
patterns through domestication and confinement.
- We demand more from our performance horses,
beginning at a younger age, than ever before.
- We often select breeding animals without regard
to dental considerations.
Proper dental care has its rewards. Your horse
will be more comfortable, will utilize feed more efficiently, may perform better,
and may even live longer.
THE
HORSE'S MOUTH
Horses evolved as grazing animals, and their
teeth are perfectly adapted for that purpose. The forward teeth, known as incisors,
function to shear off forage. The cheek teeth, including the molars and premolars
with their wide, flat, graveled surfaces, easily grind the feed to a mash before
it is swallowed.
Like humans, horses get two sets of teeth in their lifetime. The baby
teeth, also called deciduous teeth, are temporary The first deciduous incisors
may erupt before the foal is born. The last baby teeth come in when the horse
is about 8 months of age. These teeth begin to be replaced by adult teeth around
age 2 1/2. By age 5, most horses have their full complement of permanent teeth.
An adult male horse has 40 Permanent teeth. A mare may have between 36-40, because
mares are less likely to have canine (bridle) teeth.
 The
following chart shows the approximate ages at which different teeth erupt. By
referring to it, you may detect potential abnormalities of your own horse associated
with teething. For more information, refer to the Official Guide for Determining
The Age of the Horse, published by the American Association of Equine Practitioners.
| Deciduous
(Baby Teeth)
|
|
| Ist incisors(centrals) |
Birth or 1st week |
| 2nd incisors
(intermediates) |
4 - 6 weeks |
| 3rd incisors
(corners) |
6 - 9 months |
Ist, 2nd, & 3rd
premolars
(cheekteeth) |
Birth or first 2 weeks
for all premolars |
| Permanent
(Adult Teeth) |
| 1st incisors (centrals) |
2 1/2 years |
| 2nd incisors (intermediates) |
3 1/2 years |
| 3rd incisors (corners) |
4 1/2 years |
| Canines (bridle) |
4 - 5 years |
| Wolf teeth (Ist premolars) |
5 - 6 months |
| 2nd premolars (Ist cheek
teeth) |
2 1/2 years |
| 3rd premolars (2nd cheek
teeth) |
3 years |
| 4th premolars (3rd cheek
teeth) |
4 years |
| 1st molars (4th cheek teeth) |
9 - 12 months |
| 2nd molars (5th cheek teeth) |
2 years |
| 3rd molars (6th cheek teeth) |
3 1/2 - 4 years |
COMMON
DENTAL PROBLEMS
Horses may suffer from many dental problems. The
most common include:
- Sharp enamel points forming on cheek teeth,
causing lacerations of cheeks and tongue
- Retained caps (deciduous teeth that are not
shed)
- Discomfort caused by bit contact with the
wolf teeth
- Hooks forming on the upper and lower cheek
teeth
- Long and/or sharp canine (bridle) teeth interfering
with the insertion or removal of the bit
- Lost and / or broken teeth
- Abnormal or uneven bite planes
- Excessively worn teeth
- Abnormally long teeth
- Infected teeth and / or gums
- Misalignment / poor apposition (can be due
to congenital defects or injury)
- Periodontal (gum) disease
RECOGNIZING
DENTAL PROBLEMS
Horses with dental problems may show obvious signs,
such as pain or irritation, or they may show no noticeable signs at all. That
is due to the fact that some horses simply adapt to their discomfort. For this
reason, periodic dental examinations are essential. Indicators of dental problems
include:
- Loss of feed from mouth while eating, difficulty
with chewing, or excessive salivation
- Loss of body condition
- Large or undigested feed particles (long stems
or whole grain) in manure
- Head tilting or tossing, bit chewing, tongue
lolling, fighting the bit, or resisting bridling
- Poor performance, such as lugging on the bridle,
failing to turn or stop, even bucking
- Foul odor from mouth or nostrils, or traces
of blood from the mouth
- Nasal discharge or swelling of the face, jaw,
or mouth tissues
Oral exams should be an essential part of an annual
physical examination by a veterinarian. Every dental exam provides the opportunity
to perform routine preventative dental maintenance. The end result is a healthier,
more comfortable horse.
FLOATING & PREVENTATIVE
MAINTENANCE
 The
process of rasping or filing a horse's teeth is known as floating. This is the
most common dental procedure veterinarians perform on horses. Floating removes
sharp enamel points and call create a more even bite plane. It also helps keep
incisors and cheek teeth at a desirable length.
When turned out on pasture, horses browse almost continuously, picking
up dirt and grit in the process, This, plus the silicate in grass, wears down
the teeth. Stabled horses, however, may not give their teeth the same workout.
Feedings are more apt to be scheduled, not continuous, and to include processed
grains and hays. Softer feeds require less chewing. This may allow the horse's
teeth to become excessively long or to wear unevenly. Adult horse's teeth erupt
throughout their life and are worn off by chewing.
Unfortunately, cheek teeth tend to develop sharp enamel points even under
normal grazing conditions. Because the horse's lower jaw is narrower than its
upper jaw and the horse grinds its feed with a sideways motion, sharp points
tend to form along the edges. Points form on the cheek side of the upper teeth
and the tongue side of the lower teeth. These points should be rasped to Prevent
them from cutting the cheeks and tongue.
Floating is especially important in horses who have lost a tooth, or whose
teeth are in poor apposition and do not fit together well. Normally, contact
with the apposing tooth keeps biting surfaces equal. When cheek teeth are out
of alignment, hooks can form.
If left unchecked, these hooks call become long enough to Penetrate the
hard or soft palate. Small hooks can be removed by floating. Longer hooks are
usually removed with molar cutters or a dental chisel.
WOLF TEETH
Wolf teeth are very small teeth located
in front of the second premolar and do not have long roots that set them firmly
in the jaw bone. They rarely appear in the lower jaw A horse may have one, two,
or no wolf teeth. While not all wolf teeth are troublesome, veterinarians routinely
remove them to prevent pain or interference from a bit.
THE AGE FACTOR
The age of a horse affects the degree of
attention and frequency of dental care required. Consider these points:
Horses going into training for the first time, especially 2- and 3-year-olds,
need a comprehensive dental check-up. Teeth should be floated to remove any sharp
points and checked for retained caps. Caps should be removed if they have not
been shed. This should be done before training begins to prevent training problems
related to sharp teeth.
Even yearlings have been found to have enamel points sharp enough to damage
cheek and tongue tissue. Floating may improve feed efficiency and make them more
comfortable.
Horses aged 2-5 may require more frequent dental exams than older horses.
Deciduous teeth tend to be softer than permanent teeth and may develop sharp
enamel points more quickly. Also, there is an extraordinary amount of dental
maturation during this period. Twenty-four teeth will be shed and replaced during
this time, with the potential for 12 to 16 teeth to be erupting simultaneously.
Horses in this age group should be examined twice yearly, and any necessary procedures
should be performed.
Even the best dental program may not be able to solve or alleviate all
of a young horse's teething discomfort.
Mature horses should get a thorough dental examination at least once a
year whether or not there are signs of tooth problems.
It is important to maintain an even bite plane
during a horse's middle teens in order to ensure a level grinding surface into
its 20s. If you wait until the horse is in its 20s, the surfaces may be worn
excessively and/or unevenly, and since the teeth are no longer erupting at this
age, alignment may be impossible.
DEVELOPING GREATER AWARENESS
- If a horse starts behaving abnormally, dental
problems should be considered as a potential cause.
- Teeth should be floated and maintained as
indicated by an annual examination performed by an equine practitioner.
- Wolf teeth are routinely extracted from performance
horses to Prevent interference with the bit and its associated pain.
- Sedatives, local anesthetics, and analgesics
can relax the horse and keep it more comfortable during floating and other dental
procedures. Such drugs should be administered only by a veterinarian.
- Loose teeth are generally unhealthy teeth.
If your equine practitioner finds a loose tooth, he or she will likely extract
it. This reduces the chance of infection or other problems.
- Canine teeth, generally present in mature
geldings and stallions and sometimes mares, are usually clipped and filed smooth
to Prevent interference with the bit. This also reduces the possibility of injury
to both horse and human.
- Depending on the condition of your horse's
teeth, more than one visit from Your equine practitioner may be required to get
the mouth in prime working order.
- It is important to catch dental problems early.
Waiting too long may increase the difficulty of remedying certain conditions
or may even make remedy impossible.
- Older horses should have their teeth checked
at least twice yearly.
MORE
SERIOUS DENTAL AILMENTS
Serious dental conditions can develop, such as
infections of the teeth and gums, extremely long hooks on the molars, lost or
fractured teeth, and others. These conditions may require surgical treatment
and/or extraction by a veterinarian. Your equine practitioner can recommend the
best treatment.
This information was developed by the American
Association of Equine Practioners through a grant from Bayer Corporation, Animal
Health
|
