Equine dental care is becoming more and more important to the equine owner not only for the competitive horse but also for the back yard pet. Healthy teeth are vital to having a healthy horse. Routine examination of your horse’s teeth is a very important part of keeping your horse healthy, happy and performing well. Horse’s teeth continue to erupt (grow) throughout their life. This gives them a sharp grinding surface so they can chew and digest high fiber forages (such as hay). Because of the shape of the horses upper and lower jaw and the way horses chew, the outside of the top molars and the inside of the bottom molars can become sharp. Also, if the upper and lower jaw do not align perfectly (and most don’t), horses can develop hooks or ramps in the front or back of the mouth where molars don’t get worn down. Young horses are often believed to be free of dental worries, but often the teeth edges are very sharp and they can also have problems with deciduous (baby) molars (or caps) that don’t shed off (fall out) in a timely manner. Older horses may begin to lose their teeth at 25 or so years old. This can lead to loose or infected teeth and also means the diet may need to be adjusted. As horses age, the grinding surface can become smooth which limits their ability to chew/digest hay.
Some of the problems that can be seen with poor teeth may include:
Weight loss
Rough hair coat
Resistance to the bit/rein aids
Chewing difficulties (which can lead to feed wasting)
Tense back, neck, hind end
Behavioral problems (bucking, rearing, sour attitude)
Most horses should have their mouths evaluated yearly and generally need to be floated every 12 to 24 months. Young horses or those with particular problems (missing teeth, wave mouth, over or under bite) may need to be checked every 6 months. Correcting dental abnormalities and smoothing sharp edges is called “floating”.
A floating procedure begins with a thorough history including any problems noted with chewing on the bit,
followed by sedation of the horse by the veterinarian,
an oral exam to check jaw movement from side to side and forward and back.
The mouth is rinsed with water,
a full mouth speculum is applied
and an oral exam is performed using a flashlight and fingers.
The whole mouth is carefully evaluated.
The visual/non-visual exam recognizes where there are sharp points, hooks, ramps, waves, high teeth, incisor misalignments, wolf teeth, loose/infected teeth, ulcers in the mouth from the sharp points.
Hook on an incisor High Tooth Ulcers on the cheek
Click here for more abnormalities that can be found in a horse's mouth.
The teeth are then floated and corrected as needed. (To view this video, you will need QuickTime software.)
The speculum is removed and the mouth rinsed a second time.
Following the exam, pain relievers/anti-inflammatories are administered if necessary, diet adjustments/recommendations are made and a schedule for follow-up visits is set up.
Sedation is used in all our patients to ensure patient comfort, allow the veterinarian complete access to all parts of the mouth and for the safety of all involved.
In April of 2003, the Groton City Animal Hospital invested in a new piece of equipment to enhance and expand the quality of dental care offered to our equine patients. The Power Float allows your horse’s teeth to be floated in a precise and gentle manner. The Power Float is a heavy-duty Dewalt drill-like instrument that has a guarded grinding wheel at the end of a long shaft. The guarded grinding wheel keeps the veterinarian at ease knowing that the oral mucosa will be protected. The grinding wheel can be placed in the up and down position that allows floating to be done to the upper and lower dental arcades. The long shaft and the right angle design of the grinding wheel allows floating of all areas of the horse’s mouth to be done with ease.
The Power Float allows our veterinarians to do an exceptional job in correcting many abnormalities in the horse’s mouth in a gentle, efficient manner using a single piece of equipment. Hooks that previously needed to be cut with molar cutters (at risk for fracturing a tooth) now can be quickly reduced, wave mouths can be adjusted and high teeth reduced. Incisors can be adjusted to allow proper lateral (side to side) motion of the jaw.
In addition to routine floating and molar/incisor adjustments, we can also provide services such as wolf teeth removal, cap removal and molar extractions.
Groton City Animal Hospital
794 Cortland Rd. (Rte. 222)
Groton, NY 13073
(607)898-4482