Equine Dental Care- What You Need To Know

Last night we were lucky enough to have Steve Sedrish and Tracy Bartick Sedrish from Upstate Equine Medical Center lecture on Equine Dental Care. Our conference room was packed with people who braved the cold to learn more on this topic. So for those of you who were unable to make the lecture here’s ten fun facts I learned at the lecture:

1.      Horses can have up to 44 teeth. However, not all horses will have 44 teeth. Mares do not generally get canine teeth. In geldings and stallions canine teeth may not erupt until the horse is 6 years old. Then there are wolf teeth. Some horses get these extra small teeth, often called the first premolar. Normally these teeth are removed with a simple dental procedure so they do not cause problems when a bit is introduced to the horse’s mouth.

2.      Horses’ teeth continuously erupt. They are not like humans who get a set of baby teeth then when the adult teeth come in and that’s it. When horses lose their baby teeth (also called deciduous teeth) their adult teeth come in and continuously grow. As the horse chews, he/she wears his teeth down.

3.      Horses chew side to side. Not up and down like humans do. They will chew on one side of the mouth at a time. The side to side grinding motion breaks the feed into smaller pieces and works the feed towards the back of the throat.

4.      Horse’s wear their teeth unevenly.  This is because of the way horses chew and the way their teeth are placed in the mouth. A horse’s upper jaw is wider than the lower jaw. This means the outside edges of the top teeth, and the inside edges of the lower teeth do not get worn down and develop sharp points that can cause cut into the gums and cause problems. This is why their teeth should be checked at least once a year by a vet and floated if necessary.

5.      Often times a horse will let you know when they need their teeth done. Like in humans, teeth problems in horses can be painful. While they can’t talk like we can, they definitely give you clues. A horse may fight the bit more, drop grain, tilt his/her head while chewing, quiding (rolling hay into balls), refusing to eat, lose weight, or have bad breath.

6.      Horse’s teeth are supposed to be rough. A horse’s teeth should not be completely smooth. The rough edges are used to break up food into smaller particles that are easier to digest. When your vet floats teeth he/she strives to find a happy medium between smooth and too rough that it causes problems.

7.      Horses can get along just fine with missing incisors. There is an equine disease called EOTRH Syndrome that literally dissolves a horse’s incisor and sometimes even canine teeth. Veterinarians so far do not know the exact cause of this disease, but it is seen mostly in older horses. As of right now the only solution is to pull the incisor teeth completely. After a few weeks of soft feeds, horses can adapt to not having their incisors and learn to graze without them.

8.      Only a licensed vet can sedate your horse.  In order to do a proper job floating teeth, a speculum to keep the horse’s mouth open should be used. This allows the vet to safely look at and feel the horse’s teeth in order to determine what needs to be done. A horse should be sedated when you are going to put a speculum on. Some horses won’t even bat an eye at this contraption, but many try to resist the device without sedation. When a horse tries to resist speculum lots of things could go wrong such as broken teeth, or worst case scenario, a broken jaw. Whether you chose a vet to float your horse’s teeth or not, a vet should be on hand to sedate the horse prior to floating.

9.      Horses can have malformations that require more consistent dental work. Some genetic defects can affect the way a horse wears its teeth. For example parrot mouth horses have a longer top jaw than bottom jaw. This means that the bottom teeth in the back and the top teeth in the front don’t have teeth opposite them to keep them worn down. If they get too big they can puncture the pallet of the horse and go right up into the sinus cavity, causing a lot of pain and increasing the chance for infection. For this reason parrot mouthed horses should have their teeth checked every six months by a vet. A horse that is missing a tooth also needs to be on the same schedule for similar reasons.

10.  A vet can only do so much work on a tooth at a time.  When a vet floats your horse’s teeth, he/she is essentially filing down the tooth either with a hand float or a power float. This causes friction, which in turn causes heat. Too much heat can kill a tooth and cause more problems down the road. For this reason you will often see vets work a little on one tooth then switch to another tooth and go back and forth until the job is done. Really severe cases may take several floating appointments before the problem is completely corrected. 

Full House at Last Night's Seminar

If you have any dental questions feel free to give Upstate Equine Medical Center a call at 518-695-3744. They are a great group of friendly folks with tons of experience and a wealth of knowledge.