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Teeth
My horse has (or had) been very agreeable for a long time. He is naturally a horse with a fairly short fuse, especially if he doesn't feel good, but he's also inherently very friendly so when he acts out the first thing I consider is discomfort. When he began to act out this fall it crept on gradually and ground handling refreshers weren't helping. He was fine to ride, as always.Then he began fussing with his mouth. That in itself wasn’t that unusual. If he gets anxious he will stick his tongue out of the side of his mouth and tilt his head. If he was eating he’d sometimes act like he had food caught in his teeth. He had his teeth floated last February and I was unavailable for the August schedule so he didn’t get his now twice yearly check up. (Used to be annually.) Because he was fine to ride, I figured the February visit would have to suffice this year. Then he got worse and I started looking for someone who could come right away.
The recommended local DVMs use power tools and sedation, including one who only does teeth. I had a lay dentist a number of years ago who was also highly recommended and a very good horseman who floated manually, but I had trouble getting on his schedule so I wasn’t eager to try that again. I had almost resigned myself to calling my vet to do the work. Turned out my barn owner is good friends with the lay dentist. He came out this week and once he felt the teeth, he said if I hadn’t told him it had been 11 months since the last float, he would have thought it had been at least two years. How in the world would they have become that sharp in 11 months? And yet when I said he has normally been on a six month schedule of late, he said once a year was plenty. That makes zero sense to me. So now I’m wondering if he needs to be examined at shorter intervals than six months to make sure this doesn’t happen again. I am really at a loss (besides feeling like the worst “mother” in the world.)
Poor horse couldn’t eat that night, and even yesterday he was still very tender. I went to wipe dirt off the side of his face and he threatened to take off my arm. His eyes tell me he’s still pretty uncomfortable. I swear, this is when I wish I knew how to do this stuff myself.
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3 Replies
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Hi Karen – You are asking one of the most frequently asked questions about dentistry in horses. The answer is held in 3 thoughts: 1)Somewhere between 6 and 12 months dentistry moves from preventive to corrective, 2) It is not how sharp the teeth are but the horse’s threshold of pain that determines how frequently you float the horse and 3) not all enamel is the same with younger horses having softer enamel which in turn causes them to become sharpe more quickly.
In the 4 floats of Remy, each 6 months apart, his teeth became more sharp than most horses in that amount of time. The enamel doesn’t become “hard” until about 10 years of age – give or take. The degree of hardness has been evaluated with the electron microscope which has identified 3 types of enamel in the cheek teeth: type 1, 2 and 3. I personally call them “soft,” “hard” and “brittle.” The brittle ones are those that constantly chip.
A horse chews 10,000 to 40,000 chews per day which is on average 4.5 million chews in 6 months and 9 million in a year. With each chew is a lick from the tongue that “strops” the teeth sharpening it like moving a steel razor on an oiled leather strap (a “strop”).
Here are some links for references:
https://www.thehorsesadvocate.com/horse-dentistry-frequently-asked-questions/#dgfaq4. Click on the “How often should dentistry be performed in horses” link and watch the 2 videos there.
https://www.thehorsesadvocate.com/frequency-of-floating-horse-teeth-the-horses-advocate-podcast-004/
https://www.thehorsesadvocate.com/the-threshold-of-pain-in-horses-the-horses-advocate-podcast-015/
And there is the “Essentials of Equine Dentistry” course as part of the membership here – https://www.thehorsesadvocate.com/cdash/
I can understand how confused you could be over this. It is why I never judge another dentist’s work if it has been over 30 days because I have seen a few horses that had teeth as sharp as “never been done” in as little as 2 to 3 months – and I was the one who had floated them. Many dressage horses in the practice see me every 5 months because at 6 months they cannot be trained easily. And you should see how grateful the horses are. I often joke that there is 1 good reason NOT to use us to float the teeth – – – because now the horse knows what “normal” is and for this reason, one small sharp point can drive them crazy.
I hope this helps you and Remy understand that with his sensitive mouth he will need at least twice a year removal of all sharp points. And for those of you reading this who have a horse that doesn’t show pain like Remy, remember that even in these stoic ones the pain will alter the movement of the jaw and the tongue both leading to issues by 15 to 20 years of age. These issues include most pathologies in the mouth and uneven wear of the incisors. Doc T
*1 – Horse Dentistry – Frequently Asked Questions ( Moved to community.thehorsesadvocate.com )
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Thanks for this clear explanation. I always call it a win if I learn something from an experience. Today I know more than I did before, but that will surely stimulate more questions. (One being why didn’t I know some of this 25 years ago? Answer, because I haven’t had a horse this sensitive and what we did back then seemed right for every horse.) A friend had a good laugh earlier today and said I may want to have you move in so I can just have you on call. Remy’s idiosyncrasies are well known among my friends. My aunt asked if mouth sores in horses heal as quickly as in humans. I had no answer, although I’m happy to report that today he seemed more comfortable. Hopefully he’ll be 100% next week.
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Cheek ulcers (mouth sores from abrasions / bite) heal very quickly – as fast as humans.
I’m sure he will feel a lot better! Thanks for this discussion!
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