Why Does My Horse Need A Dentistry?

Guest article from: Heidi Hart, DVM and Becky Scarlett, DVM

This is a common question we get from owners when we recommend doing annual dentistries.  Therefore, the focus of this article is to explain the basic anatomy of the horse’s mouth so you will know why your horse needs a dentistry, when a dentistry is needed, and how we check a horse’s mouth.

As we all know, horses eat grass.  They have front teeth (incisors) that you see when you part their lips, that are used for grasping and tearing grass, hay, and feed.  They also have canine teeth (usually only present in males, although some mares have them too) that are in the space behind the incisors, and are used for fighting. Most horses also have wolf teeth, which are tiny vestigial teeth on the upper jaw just in front of the large cheek teeth.  We don’t really know the purpose of the wolf teeth, and it is generally recommended to have them removed so that they do not interfere with the bit or bridle.  Lastly, they have cheek teeth that you cannot easily see, that extend all the way back to underneath your horse’s eyes.  These teeth do the heavy lifting, so to speak, and grind down the grass, hay and feed that the horse consumes to smaller, more easily digestible pieces.  The majority of dental issues occur with the cheek teeth, and therefore, cannot be seen without a thorough exam. 

The cheek teeth (or premolars and molars) get worn down by all of the hard work of grinding coarse forage.  For this reason, they grow continuously throughout the horse’s life.  In fact, some horses even manage to outlive their teeth, and will start losing their cheek teeth in their mid-twenties.  The lower jaw of the horse is narrower than the upper jaw.  Therefore, as the cheek teeth wear down, sharp points can develop on the outer edge of the upper jaw and inner (tongue) edge of the lower jaw.  Horses also tend to develop hooks or points on the back edge of the last lower cheek teeth and the front edge of the upper first cheek teeth.  These sharp points can cause ulcers in your horse’s mouth that are painful and lead to many of the symptoms you may see (dropping feed, resistance to the bit, head turning while eating, etc.).  However, horses, like us, have different pain thresholds and some can have severe ulcers in their mouths and never show any of the signs listed above.  This leads us to our second point…when does your horse need a dentistry?

Generally, we recommend your horse have their first dentistry around the age of 2 or 3 years when they are likely going to begin training.  This way we can see if their permanent teeth are erupting normally, remove wolf teeth, and remove sharp points so that the young horse is not in any oral pain as training starts.  We then recommend doing dentistries on an annual basis.  However, there are sensitive horses that need it more frequently and other horses that wear their teeth differently and need it less frequently.

Unfortunately, the only way to be thorough in checking a horse’s teeth is to use a full mouth speculum which keeps the mouth open and allows all of the teeth to be visualized. This is critical because often the back teeth have severe issues that cannot be determined by pulling the tongue out the side of the mouth and looking at the first cheek teeth.  Some horses allow the speculum to be placed, but others are resistant to it without sedation.  With that said, we will often look at the first cheek teeth to determine if there is an obvious need, but be aware that there are limitations to this sort of quick check.  Because of this, we recommend doing dentistries annually and if we realize after a year or two that your horse can go longer, then we can extend the interval between dentistries.

So what do we actually do when we perform a dentistry?  First, we sedate the horse so that we can do a thorough job and so the horse is relaxed and comfortable.  Then we put a full mouth speculum on the horse and examine the mouth using our hands so we can feel the points and detect other abnormalities.  We use a bright light to visualize the teeth, tongue and cheeks.  We use power dental floats, drill-looking pieces of equipment with rotary bits, to grind the sharp points smooth and to level any long teeth.  Next we address issues like large hooks in the front or back, wavemouths, or missing teeth.  Many owners are concerned that the floating might be painful or uncomfortable to their horse, however, the nerves in a horses cheek teeth do not extend above the gum line.  Therefore, horses don’t have the same sensitivity in their teeth that we have, and they are more concerned about the noise and vibration of the equipment.  After we are finished with the cheek teeth, the speculum is removed and the front incisors are inspected and reduced if needed and the tartar is removed from the canine teeth, if present.  Different veterinarians may perform these in different order, but all of these areas are addressed each time a dentistry is done.  This is a description of a routine dentistry.  Horses may have dental problems, such as cavities, diastemas, fractured teeth, etc., which are beyond the scope of this article.

Dental health is very important to the overall health of your horse.  Keeping your horse’s mouth in optimal condition will help improve feed efficiency, and can help in reducing the risk of choke or esophageal obstruction.  Discomfort and training problems may also be avoided by eliminating sharp points that can hurt the cheek and tongue, and hooks which can lock mobility of the jaw.  Having routine dentistries performed regularly can help prevent more serious dental problems and help your horse live a longer life.