18/06/2025
Equine Dentistry
Brian S. Burks DVM
Diplomate, ABVP
Board-Certified in Equine Practice
The dental care of your horse is an important part of healthcare. Dental disease can result in systemic illness and partial anorexia. Some systemic diseases may result in dental disorders, such as equine Cushing’s disease.
Ideally, a veterinarian should check your horse’s teeth at least once a year. Horse teeth continually erupt and grind, resulting in sharp points that can damage soft tissues in the mouth. Depending on the individual horse, the dental care required can vary from an annual manual rasp to work being required 2-3 times per year. Common problems encountered include overgrowth of individual teeth, due to loss of the opposing tooth which should wear it down, ulceration of cheeks from sharp points on the teeth, and diastemata, where gaps between the teeth allow food to pack and rot, leading to gum inflammation.
Possible clinical signs of dental disorders include:
Dropping half chewed food (quidding)
Head shaking or abnormal head carriage when ridden
Eating more slowly than usual
Bad breath
Drooling
Weight loss
One-sided nasal discharge
Swelling on the face or lower jaw
Sticking tongue out of the mouth
Horses naturally have a lower jaw which is slightly narrower than the upper jaw and for this reason, even normal wearing down can lead to sharp enamel points forming on the outside (buccal) surface of the upper teeth and the inside (lingual) surface of the lower teeth.
All horses having their teeth examined will have a speculum used to hold the mouth open for examination and treatment. This is not painful but keeps the mouth open, allowing veterinarians to visualize and palpate the furthest molars without the horse being able to bite accidentally. We will feel for abnormalities including sharp points or overgrown teeth. If you have noticed anything different in how your horse has been eating or how they have been with the bit, please let us know.
Sedation is necessary for the welfare of the horse and the safety of the veterinarian, technician, and of course yourself! Without sedation and a mouth speculum, a complete oral examination is not possible, even in the most cooperative horse.
Following examination of your horse’s mouth, more complex work is sometimes required, and the horse may need to be transported to the hospital for specialized equipment and/or general anesthesia.
A condition which seems to becoming more frequent is a diastema (diastemata).This is where food becomes trapped and impacted between molars and premolars. Horses vigorously masticate fibrous food for over 18 hours per day, and even the smallest space between two cheek teeth will allow some food fibers aligned in the direction of the abnormal space to be forced into that space. The food cannot be removed naturally by the horse, and it eventually rots, causing progressive stretching, inflammation, and destruction of the periodontal ligament, which holds the tooth in place and secondary infection can exacerbate very painful periodontal disease.
Diastema of the cheek teeth is a major cause of quidding in horses, particularly in cases where no significant dental overgrowths are present. Diastemata may cause halitosis, quidding, food in the cheek and in advanced cases weight loss. Horses with diastemata have more difficulty chewing long fibers such as hay or haylage compared to short fibers. Horses are often asymptomatic on short grass, which has softer and finer fibers. Treatment of this condition involves cleaning out and widening of the interdental space using a diamond encrusted burr. When performed by a trained veterinarian, this procedure makes most horses much more comfortable within a few days.
Fox Run Equine Center
www.foxrunequine.com
(724) 727-3481
