Page 103 - October 2015

“The horse’s teeth are continually erupting from the jaw and eventually come to the end of the root, and there is nothing left to grind with.”
of those teeth that erupt up farther and become tall, over-erupting into the opposing space. “We may have to reduce a portion of the tall tooth, and sometimes this will allow the space to heal and the teeth to come back together again. In older horses, this may become more complicated and problematic because they are running out of teeth. Sometimes, we need to clean up those periodontal pockets, pack them with antibiotic and put some dental impression material over it to keep feed from packing in there and to allow it to heal,” says True.
“Sometimes, however, once we clean out
the pockets, we find that the tooth is actually loose. In this instance, getting the tooth out is the best way to solve the problem. After that, we have to periodically reduce the opposing tooth so it doesn’t become too tall. We usually need to check this every 6 to 9 months,” she explains.
“We are seeing more and more problems now with the incisors and not just with
the cheek teeth. One problem is known as EOTRH (equine odontoclastic tooth resorp- tion and hypercementosis). We see this mostly in the incisors and also sometimes in canine teeth, and there is some question as to whether it may affect the cheek teeth,” she says.
“In the early stages, it can sometimes be difficult to see. You may notice that the incisors are becoming a little loose. Some people have noticed that when they feed the horse a carrot, the horse doesn’t want to bite it because the teeth hurt. Unfortunately, this disease is progressive and we haven’t found a good way to treat it other than extracting the teeth,” she says.
“In later stages, the teeth actually move and become crooked. On x-rays, we see that the lower part of the tooth (still inside the gum) becomes very bulbous. A normal incisor would appear
on a radiograph as a smooth, long tooth that tapers toward the end. With EOTRH, we see
The teeth of older horses may become loose and uncomfortable and feed can get packed
in between them, leading to periodontal disease.
a tooth that looks fairly normal on the surface, but underneath the tissue (gingiva and mucosa) it may become very large and bulbous. Once the tooth starts resorbing, perhaps the body is trying to produce excess cementum to try to keep the tooth solid, rather than falling out.”
To date research has not found a cause of this disease, but it is seen primarily in older horses. “If we can identify it early, we can take radiographs, talk to the client, and start extracting teeth if we need to,” says True.
“Owners often worry about a horse losing the front teeth, but it’s amazing how well these horses can manage. I’ve had to take out all the incisors on some horses, in stages, and those horses will go right back to grazing and are so much happier because they are not living with chronic pain,” she says.
They can continue to graze even with all of the incisors missing. “They learn to use their lips. The first time I did this, I was so nervous about it that I told the owner to just gradually re-introduce the horse to grass. But, she turned the horse out even before the area had fully healed following the extraction. She said the horse did so well grazing and felt so good that he wasn’t dependable anymore for teaching beginning riders!”
In all the cases True has dealt with, she’s never had an owner look back and say they wished they hadn’t done this because removing the diseased teeth gave all of the horses relief. “The one thing veterinarians need to remember to tell owners is that the horse’s tongue may hang out sometimes when the horse relaxes
as the front teeth are no longer there for the tongue to rest against. Some of the horses, when working, will keep their tongues in their mouths,” she says.
Spaces between teeth can cause the opposite teeth to become tall and over-erupt into the opposing space. This may require the reduction of part of the long tooth, but can be a problem in older horses since they are running out of teeth.
EvEry HorsE Is DIffErEnt
Bruce Connally, a veterinarian with a sports medicine practice in Berthoud, Colorado, says that you can’t assume a horse has good teeth just because he’s not old. Some horses in their prime have serious dental issues.
“For older horses, we try to prevent some of the bad things or keep bad things from getting worse. Young horses can get sharp points, too, but with the older ones we need to see if there are any teeth that have become pathological and need to be removed. This is the biggest difference between the older and the younger horses,” he explains.
On all horses, the dentist will check for sharp points and remove those to make the horse more comfortable. “Additionally, the older horse may have loose teeth, and these are painful. They can interfere with the way the horse chews and, hence, cause weight loss,” says Connally. If it hurts too much to eat, the horse won’t eat enough.
“Aggressive dentists believe that you should sedate these horses, use a speculum, reach in and examine/wiggle every tooth, and maybe use a pick to be really thorough. If the horse looks good and his teeth look good, you don’t need to be this aggressive. If you suspect a problem, however, you do need sedation, a mouth speculum and a thorough exam. It should be handled case by case, depending on the situation,” he says.
Check your horse’s teeth every 6 to 12 months to identify any problems early enough to resolve them.
SPEEDHORSE, October 2015 101
equine health
Bruce Connally