If you’re taking time to read this article, chances are you want the very
best for your horse. Today, a horse is our friend, companion, and in some
cases, our livelihood. It is in our best interest, and our horse’s, to
provide the best health care possible so they may live longer and happier
lives. Special attention is given to make certain our horses are wormed
every two months, kept current on all the necessary inoculations, obtain the
highest quality hay and grain, have proper fitting saddles and tack, provide
frequent sessions of massage therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic, and
shoeing. And, know how important shoeing is to our horse’s performance,
therefore, we schedule routine visits from our farrier.
Did you know?
Many of us overlook another very important aspect of general health
maintenance for our horses that is, care for their Teeth. Some horses will
not display symptoms of dental problems, but all horses develop sharp
pain-inflicting points among other irregularities of the teeth. We are all
concerned with our horse’s comfort. In some cases, whole mouth dentistry,
properly done, can alleviate and often eradicate certain cases of colic,
eliminate mild lameness, clear runny eyes, lessen and even cure cribbing.
Dentistry may also promote softer collection and flexion, re-muscle an
atrophic top-line, and lessen the severity of spooking. There are many other
obvious issues related to dentistry, such as correcting head tossing,
lessening the amount of grain lost while eating, drooling, change a bad or
undesirable attitude, loss of weight and fighting or fidgeting with the bit.
Biomechanics
This all happens with whole mouth dentistry and equilibration best explained
as equal crown heightening of teeth, not just floating! For instance … a
male horse can have up to 44 teeth and a mare up to 38 teeth. These teeth
will continue to erupt at different degrees, from socket in the mandible,
until it reaches 20-25 years of age. Horses in the wild will eat coarse
grasses and graze up to 20 hours a day. The silica or abrasives in the
grasses will naturally keep the teeth worn down to the proper angle and
height. Most domesticated horses are kept in stalls or small pastures, fed
processed feed, or graze limited amounts of time on fine grass. As a result,
they do not receive the benefit of the abrasives necessary to keep the teeth
evenly worn. Incisors will not wear at the same rate as the molar table. As
this process occurs, the horse adjusts its natural chewing motion from a
side-to-side motion, to one of an up-and-down motion. This accentuates the
unevenness of the molar table due to the fact that the lower molar table is
narrower than the upper molar table. This causes the upper molar table to
become cupped from the lower molar table pounding into it, accentuating the
points of the upper molar table.
Having only the best intentions, horse owners and trainers have these points
“floated” or removed. Floating, however, is just the beginning of whole
mouth dentistry and equilibration. Floating represents only 10% of the total
work required to properly equilibrate the mouth, especially for the
performance horse. The molars have a surface or table which the horse uses
to grind its food when the upper and lower molar tables meet properly.
Horses have a chewing motion starting with the lower mandible going down to
one side, out, up and in, then down to the other side, out, up and in again.
Molars can very often erupt at different rates as the result of the
unbalance of individual horses chewing patterns. This can be the result of a
wide range of issues. Here are just a few of them:
With regard to molar tables, a wave effect can be created with commonly
occurring hooks and ramps. These occur at the end of the molar table. A ramp
can be at the front or rear of the bottom molar table. A hook is usually
found at the front of the top molar table.
These hooks and ramps can even protrude in the opposing gum line. The hooks
can limit the anterior and posterior movement of the mandible causing poor
performance in the area of rounding up. It also may cause hollowing out or
fighting the bit. It can cause poor axial flow of the food bolus and make
eating a chore for the horse.
Another example, which causes problems, are ramps. That is, when the back of
the last molar is jabbed up into the upper gum line, hitting on an
acupressure point (bladder meridian) that has been found to cause lameness
in the rear hocks. It would be essential to check the mouth in this
situation especially if radiographs of the hock show no reason why this
lameness has occurred.
The washboard effect occurs when the entire table is jagged. This is called
accentuated transverse ridging. All cases in which unevenness of the molar
table is described will prevent a horse’s mandible from moving front to back
or side to side or both. Anything that restricts the forward and backward
movement of the mandible is believed to be detrimental to downward
transitions and collection.
In addition, restriction of movement to the left and right of the mandible
can correspond to the poor left to right flexion in the direction of the
restriction.
Young horses have a natural table angle of 10-15 degrees, not flat, which
most floaters will tend to create. Any deviation of this natural jaw
movement or angle of the molar tables or incisors will throw the horse off
physically as they age.
One of the major goals of whole mouth dentistry and equilibration is to
create a three point balance or S.C.O. (Simultaneous Centric Occlusion) with
incisors, molars, and TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint) all having equal
pressure at rest.
Older Horses
Older horses, usually over the age of 10 years, and young horses between 2 –
4 1/2 years of age have uniqueness in the teeth.
Horses in the wild graze up to 20 hours a day and their grazing or nipping
grasses keep their incisors from becoming excessive in length. Stabled
horses, fed processed feeds and precut hay, are not able to wear their
incisors properly. Older horses, 5 years+ will not be able to grind their
food as well without the interference of their incisors and will turn to an
up and down, sort of a “chop chop,” chewing motion. This in itself poses a
problem. As the horse eats, he is not grinding his food properly and whole
pieces of food are being swallowed, contributing to improper digestion,
sometimes colic. Pieces of food can be trapped in the epiglottis flap in the
throat allowing hay dust into the lungs; hence the symptoms of heaves,
coughing and wheezing, may become apparent. From a performance standpoint,
the gap in the molar table causes pain in the TMJ and may cause the horse to
throw and pop its head when asked to collect or round up.
Wedge or slanted incisors will cause a horse to chew only on one side of its
mouth. This will cause excessive wear to the side being used and accentuated
uneven height of the clinical crown of the molar arcades. Here again, the
whole mouth must be re-angled. Special dremel instruments must be used to
align properly and to ensure incisors, molar, and TMJ has equal pressure.
Younger Horses
Younger horses between the ages of 2 ½ through 4 ½ shed 24 teeth and should
be checked every six months to ensure proper occlusion of the permanent
teeth. In many cases, these shedding baby teeth or caps do not come off at
the appropriate time in the appropriate manner. They are called retained
caps and cause dental cysts offering all kinds of problems. If the caps on
the molars do not shed off to allow the permanent tooth to erupt, the
permanent tooth will erupt in an opposing direction, consequently through
the mandible or into the nasal cavity of the maxilla.
Normal dental cysts occur three to six months prior to
the shedding of the baby or deciduous tooth and disappear three to six
months after the baby has been shed. Retained dental cysts or lumps on the
mandible, lasting longer than the above-mentioned time, should be a red flag
to the horse owner that the young horse needs dental attention.
If the incisors develop retained caps, mature teeth coming in will grow in
crooked behind the caps, or not at all. This produces a great deal of pain
in young horses resulting in head tossing, excessive tongue movement in and
out of the mouth, etc. In many cases, retained caps are the initial reason
that a horse will start to crib. The young horse attempts to rid itself of
caps by any means possible. Cribbing is retained as a bad habit. Cribbing
also occurs in older horses that are attempting to file down incisor that
are excessive in length.
Horses have been known to eat rocks, sticks, and even metal to file down
their own teeth or rid themselves of caps. This method, however, is seldom
successful. Once again, young horses should be checked every six months and
older horses, once been equilibrated, should be checked every nine to twelve
months.
Other Occurrences in the Mouth
Whatever the age of the horse, it can have wolf teeth. Did you know that
horses could have up to as many as 10 wolf teeth? They date back o the first
horse, Eohippus, when horses had seven molars in each arcade. The wolf tooth
is actually a remnant of the roots of a premolar, or the seventh molar. As a
premolar, it has the capabilities of having a baby or deciduous tooth. These
teeth can occur on the top and bottom arcades.
Wolf teeth are loose rooted and set in front of the first premolar where the
bit is placed, and for this reason should be extracted prior to the
installation of bit seats. This will enhance the performance of your horse.
Bit Seats
There are nerves running along the bars of the horse’s mouth. If a bit
constantly bangs on them, these nerves can be damaged causing general
aggravation. To solve this problem, bit seats are installed for the comfort
of the horse and are suggested for any horse that is being ridden. By
rounding the front of the first premolar (top and bottom to the gum line) we
provide a place for the pouchy flesh and cheek to escape the bit. This bit
seat should be custom made for the bit that is used in the horse’s mouth.
Many people will create bit seats, but they may not be the proper size for
any bit, yet alone the bit you use.
Why use Sedation?
Most the work I do require sedation. The horses, especially first time
clients, are in need of advance precision angle work that requires the horse
to be still, it is a must. This is especially true when dremels are used.
The horse will respond with excessive moving about and head tossing. When
the horse has been properly sedated, they will be standing and still awake,
but they are quiet.
Another important reason for having horse sedated, especially when removing
of wolf teeth, is that there a palatine artery running along the top of the
mouth. If the horse should fidget and toss his head, there is a chance of
puncturing this artery with an instrument while working.
Dentistry, a New Fad or a Thing of the Past?
There is a widespread misconception that horse dentistry has just been
developed over the last 10-20 years. Although evidence exists that we did
quite a bit of regular tooth maintenance over a century ago, when horse were
our primary source of locomotion. Horse dentistry was pretty much forgotten
after WWI when the Vet Board claimed it as a veterinarian procedure. This
took out of the hands of the experienced dental technicians who had already
figured out oral biomechanics and how to eliminate the problems that
prevents normal mastication and better riding habits.
So, why the big ruckus now about the service that has been avoided for so
long, that we have net been able to get our regular veterinarians to perform
it? We ask them to check our horse’s teeth and some of them reply something
like:
“His teeth are O.K.?” after a brief finger check
“Is he fighting the bit?”
“Has he been dropping grain?”
“He is in good shape. See how fat he is.”
“They don’t need that until they’re senior citizens-they are O.K. now.”
This is becoming a thing of the past. More and more people are switching to
non-veterinarian equine dentist and better-educated veterinarians. Thanks to
several horse dentistry organizations and schools that have formed over the
past decade or two. The Academy of Equine Dentistry in Glenns Ferry, Idaho,
is recognized as being one the best at teaching the practice of quality
horse dentistry in the world.
The Academy of Equine Dentistry has studied hundreds of horse skulls and the
vast majority showed no signs of dental maintenance. In fact, several of
them had serious dental problems that might have been a factor for their
demise. This leads us to believe that most horses die sooner than they
should and suffer much more pain that could have been prevented through
regular dental maintenance. Always remember, it is a myth that horses show
us signs of dental problems before they become serious. So, it is very
important to have a qualified dentist check your horses regularly (every six
to nine months).
How to Choose a Qualified Equine Dentist
