Equine Dental Care Guide

Efficient digestion starts when the food is taken in and chewed, and routine attention to the teeth is an important part of feeding management. The most common eating habit is dropping or 'quidding' food and slow eating due to poor teeth.

The development of sharp edges on the 'cheek' or large pre-molar and molar teeth on the upper and lower jaws is a common problem in horses of all ages, particularly those consuming hard grains and dry feeds.

Sharp-edged teeth develop because the bottom jaw is narrower than the top jaw. In order to bring the molar teeth into contact to grind, a side-to-side sweeping action is required to chew food efficiently. Consequently, after some time, if the hard tooth enamel is not worn away evenly at the completion of the jaw movement, sharp edges develop on the outside border of the top cheek teeth, and the inside border of the bottom teeth.

Signs of sharp-edged cheek teeth

Sharp-edged cheek teeth can lacerate the mouth membranes, inside the cheeks and tongue, causing pain and discomfort as a horse chews. An affected horse may slobber excessively, 'quid' or drop lumps of partly chewed food around the feed bin, and take longer to finish its feed because it is avoiding discomfort by careful, slow chewing.

Sharp-edged teeth may also cause resistance to the bit when the horse is ridden or driven, as the tongue and oral membranes are pulled back onto the sharp edges of the back teeth by the bit during turning and rein pressure. This results in pain with head tossing, twisting the head away on the painful side when turning, and lugging to one side.

Horses can fight the bit, grab the bit and pull hard because of sharp-edged teeth. The teeth should also be checked in any working horse that develops an altered head carriage, or an uneven or shifting lameness in the front legs.

In severe cases, digestion may be impaired, resulting in weight loss, falling away in condition, and poor performance because the food is not efficiently prepared during chewing for small bowel digestion. Any horse that fails to put on condition after worming and an improvement in its diet, despite a good appetite, should have its teeth checked.

Young horses aged between 2-5 years that are fed whole, dry grains and hay that requires a lot of chewing often develop sharp-edged cheek teeth. A horse may also develop a habit referred to as 'lazy chewing', or restricted jaw sweep action on easy to chew, soft concentrate rations, forming the outer edges of the top teeth into a sharp ridge.

When to check and rasp teeth

The cheek teeth should be checked for sharp edges and dislodged 'caps' (milk teeth worn away above the emerging adult tooth in horses 3 to 5 years of age) when the horse is first brought into work. For convenience, teeth are often checked by a vet at the time of drenching, vaccination and soundness checks.

Young horses: 2-5 years of age

It is important to have the teeth checked and sharp edges filed off (rasped or floated) with a tooth rasp every 6 months in horses 2-5 years of age, particularly those fed on concentrate feeds in training. Young horses grazing predominantly green pastures seldom need their teeth rasped.

It is a good idea to have the teeth checked before 'mouthing' a young horse, as a painful experience from sharp-edged cheek teeth may cause the animal to fight or resent the bit, and result in future handling problems.

Older horses: 5-20 years of age

The teeth should be routinely checked when any horse is brought into work, and at least once yearly in older horses fed mainly on concentrate and hay diet.

If you rasp the teeth yourself, remove only the sharp points on the cheek teeth until the rasp slides freely over the teeth. Over-rasping is detrimental and reduces the grinding efficiency of the teeth. Any abnormalities (stepped teeth, loose caps) should be referred to your vet or horse dentist.

Wolf teeth present in geldings and stallions should be removed if the gum is inflamed over the area. However, some horse owners have the wolf teeth routinely removed in a sport horse, such as when barrel racing or cutting, where the horse is turned or pulled up on the rein during competition. Consult your vet for advice.

Aged horses: 20 years or older

During a horse's lifetime, the teeth do not grow but continue to be pushed out of the bony jaw as they wear away. Eventually, an old horse over 20-25 years of age bites or chews on the remaining root portion of its teeth, or may lose them altogether.

If a horse's teeth problems cannot be corrected, or are due to old age, then crushed grains, soaked grains, or extruded feed, and other soft foods or pellets, and dampened chaff or hay, should be fed so that minimal chewing is required.

Abnormal teeth wear

Unfortunately, horses that develop chewing habits such as crib-biting, rail chewing and wind-sucking often wear their front incisor teeth abnormally.

When purchasing a horse, always check its mouth to confirm its approximate age, and look for abnormally worn incisor teeth. This can give a clue to the horse's chewing vices.

Article courtesy of Dr John Kohnke from ‘Feeding and Nutrition of Horses’ published by Virbac-Vetsearch.

Contributors: Dr John Kohnke BVSc RDA

By Virbac Animal Health - Last updated 16 November 2012