Older horses often have their own particular set of health issues, especially when it comes to dental health. Spend some time watching your older horse eat. Does he leave partly chewed hay wads lying around? Do you see him drop grain from his mouth? Is he taking longer to finish his hay? Is he having problems maintaining weight on his normal feed amount? These are all potential indicators of tooth, gum, or mouth issues.
Horses literally live by their ability to chew. Chewing food properly allows a horse to absorb the critical calories, minerals, and other elements needed to maintain weight, keep a balanced metabolism, have energy, and generally stay well. So, maintaining a healthy mouth that can chew efficiently is crucial-especially as your horse ages.
Facts About Equine Teeth
Horses have two groups of teeth: incisors and canine teeth are in one group, and premolars, molars, and wolf teeth are in the second.
• Incisors are the nipper teeth across the front of the horse's mouth. They function to bite off grasses and hay.
• Canine teeth are right behind the incisors. Aggressive horses still use them today as an offensive weapon, which is why veterinary dental experts will recommend reducing them. Canine teeth are seen mostly in male horses; sometimes mares will grow them, as well.
• Premolars and molars (called cheek teeth) are the larger, squarer teeth at the sides and back of the mouth used for crushing and grinding food.
• Wolf teeth-a prehistoric remnant-sit right before the premolars. Some horses develop them and some don't.
Horse teeth are made of a hard, brittle substance called enamel, and two less brittle materials called dentin and cementum. An interesting thing about horse teeth-which is different from your teeth-is that they "grow," actually erupt, approximately 2 to 3 mm a year. This eruption replaces the tooth that has worn away during the grinding of feeds. Silicates in the grass and hay cause this wear, which amounts to about 3 mm per year.
Tips on Teeth
• Horses live by their ability to chew, so make sure they can chew well into old age by practicing good preventive maintenance from a young age.
• Teeth erupt throughout the horse's life until about age 25. By then, they're often losing teeth due to lack of root/
reserve crown.
• Some dental problems found in older horses are correctable, but others are not.
• Diet modifications may be necessary to help your older horse chew more easily and obtain the maximum benefit from nutrients.
At maturity-that is, when all the permanent teeth are in place at about five years of age-the horse's premolars and molars are about 3 to 3.5 inches in length. Most of this length (called reserve crown) is hidden inside the jaw and skull. Only about one-half to one inch of the tooth is actually exposed (called crown) inside the mouth at any given time.
By the time a horse reaches old age-say his mid-20s-the overall tooth length might have been reduced to less than an inch with very little root or reserve crown left to anchor the tooth in place. The goal of equine preventive dentistry is to maximize the "life span" of the tooth by preventing premature wear due to abnormal wear patterns.
Dental Pain in Horses
Horses can show many different symptoms of mouth and dental pain, some of which seem to have nothing at all to do with their mouths. Additionally, some horses are very stoic. They can have moderate to severe dental or oral problems without showing any signs at all.
Many problems will begin with mild symptoms that can change completely as the disease or abnormality progresses, so owners often think the problem has resolved itself rather than realizing that it has simply changed. So just because your horse is in good body condition and seems to be feeling well doesn't mean that you shouldn't have his mouth checked on an annual basis.
