The topic of equine dentistry has come up a few times in
this blog…and for good reason! Obvious problems, and not so obvious ones, may
be causing pain, discomfort and behavioral issues in your horse.
Most modern
horses consume diets of grain and hay, which limits their grazing time.
However, their teeth were made for grazing, so dental issues are common in the
equine industry. Luckily, with a good vet and dental technician, most of these
can be corrected. The health and performance of your horse may be affected by
the problems going on with their teeth. Some health issues may include:
malnutrition, cheek and tongue ulceration, chronic colic or choke. Performance
issues could be head-tossing, rearing, overflexing, and resistance to being
bridled (just to name a few).
Now for the
dental exam itself…what should you expect?
1.
Questions: the
dentist/vet should ask you about your horse’s health and performance history.
Age, breed, use, eating habits (and any changes), performance (and any
changes), etc. are common questions
2.
Sedative: many dentists use a
mild or moderate sedative when working on horses, much like several human
dentists do. This keeps the horse quiet so that a thorough job can be done and
lessens the anxiety of the animal.
3.
Facial exam: your
dentist should exam first-time patients for any swelling, misalignment,
structural issues, and check incisors for excessive length and sharp edges.
4.
Mouth exam: the
mouth needs to be examined before any work done to check for signs of
ulceration, bruising, cuts, infection, etc.
5.
Floating: rasp down canine teeth,
sharp edges on incisors corrected, float molars and balance incisors, etc.
This was just the tip of the iceberg for equine dentistry. Check out the following links for more information about equine dentistry and senior teeth care.
Written by Stefani Garbacik, Wayne County Livestock Agent
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