They say 'no hoof - no horse'   

If you're a horse owner of dedicated reader of horse care books, you KNOW that horses need to see dentists as much as we do. Take a look at these pictures for some 'inside' info!

Why do horses need a dentist? Nature has equipped the horse with 36 teeth...12 incisors in the front of his mouth which are the ones we usually see, and 24 molars at the back on the upper and lower jaw...and these are the ones a lot of people tend to forget about!

The incisors are designed to bite or tear and the molars to chew and grind. Horse teeth, unlike human teeth, grow continuously at a rate of around 6mm (1/4") a year for all a horse's life and there is a corresponding rate of wear about the same amount on the teeth as the horse chews his food.

Now you'd think these two factors would cancel each other out but unfortunately it doesn't quite happen that way. As you can notice in these pictures, the lower jaw is narrower than the upper jaw and over a period of time, the teeth wear down unevenly, resulting in sharp ridges which can cause the horse a lot of pain. The top teeth cut the inside of his cheek and the lower ones can lacerate his tongue so that eating is painful to such an extent that the horse will avoid this pain, even if this means going hungry.

Signs your horse's teeth need attention include:
bad breath with thick, glue-like saliva;
a change in eating habits;
dropping half-eaten food from his mouth;
weight loss or a general decline in condition;
holding his head at an angle, head-shaking, bolting and general misbehaviour.

There are no nerves in a horse's teeth, so filing away the sharp edges doesn't cause them any discomfort...although it makes humans watching the procedure for the first time squirm!

above: A downright horrific skull! One of the upper teeth is missing giving the one below nothing to grind against, allowing it to grow unchecked. Also notice the uneven, sharp edges. This horse would have been in extremely poor condition, starving from being unable to eat properly.

For most horses, a yearly checkup and filing will mean the horse is suffering no discomfort due to poor teeth. Younger horses in work benefit from inspection three or four times a year as their temporary or 'baby' incisors are in the process of being replaced by permanent ones. As in humans, the permanent tooth pushes the temporary one out but this can take up to two months during which time the horse can be very tender in the mouth. The dentist will help nature along by removing the temporary tooth and lessening the discomfort.

So called 'wolf teeth' can be another extraction job. These sometimes appear in front of the first two top molars and as they are not subject to any grinding action, can become long enough to strike and lacerate the lower jaw. Wolf teeth can be either extracted or cut off just above the gum line.

Teeth aren't all that dentists find in horse's mouths! One dentist was contacted by a worried owner who horse had completely gone off his feed. An examination revealed the horse had apparently eaten a bag needle which was stuck firmly at the back of his tongue with the eye digging into the roof of the mouth. Once it was removed (it was so stuck a pair of pliers was needed) the horse began to wolf down feed! Other items that can get lodged in a horse's mouth include dog bones (one dentist estimates he extracts around three a year) and also hay bale wire.

A skull showing good set of teeth....

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