Page 94 - Speedhorse October 2018

The challenges associated with dental care can be somewhat unique among different age groups, and regular oral examinations are very important.
Cleet Griffin, DVM, Clinical associate Professor of large animal Clinical sciences
Equine Initiative website: tamuequine.com
CVM website: vetmed.tamu.edu
Dental pathology and oral pain can cause problems when the horse is eating or during performance. There are certain troubles with the teeth which
tend to be of higher concern within specific age groups. For example, problems with eruption of permanent teeth and shedding of deciduous teeth are usual concerns of juvenile age horses, while abnormal occlusion, excessive tooth attrition, and diminished chewing ability tend to be of higher concern in the senior age horses. With any case, the first step in modern equine dental care begins with a thorough oral examination which will provide
the veterinarian with important information to guide treatments affecting the teeth and surrounding tissues.
A thorough oral examination is performed on a horse receiving adequate intravenous sedation and analgesia, and the procedures are facilitated by a bright light and dental speculum to hold open the mouth (Figure 1). Objectives of the oral examination include evaluation
for appropriate dental eruption, assessment of occlusion, assessment of the periodontal and endodontic structures, identification of sources of pain, and evaluation for prob- lems such as bleeding, abrasions, or tumors. The purpose of this article is to highlight a few of the dental concerns encountered in different age groups of horses.
Figure 1
Intra-oral examination of a sedated horse using endoscope to improve visualization inside the oral cavity. The mouth is held open by a dental speculum.
Foals and Weanlings
In the initial postpartum period, the foal’s skull
is evaluated for symmetry, the lips and gingiva at the front of the mouth are examined for abnormalities, and alignment of the upper and lower jaw is evaluated. In newborns, brief inspection of the oral cavity can be per- formed without sedation by gentle retraction of the cheek and shining a bright light into the mouth. Congenital abnormalities sometimes seen in foals include cleft palate, overbite, under bite, and wry nose (shortened, deviated upper jaw). Older foals are also occasionally affected
with abscess of a deciduous cheek tooth, which typically appears as a firm swelling and is associated with fracture
and infection of the baby tooth. Other causes of facial swellings sporadically encountered in foals and weanlings include jaw fracture, skull fracture, tumors, or cysts. Diagnostic imaging, such as radiography or computed tomography, is often of great value in the workup of foals with an abnormal swelling of the head.
Figure 2
Eruption bumps of the mandible (white arrows) in a three-year-old colt
Juvenile Horses (1-5 years)
In horses between one year and five years of age, eruption of 24 permanent cheek teeth and 12 perma- nent incisor teeth occurs sequentially, with simultane- ous shedding of counterpart deciduous teeth, known as ‘caps’. During this same period, juvenile horses develop extremely sharp enamel points that cause a very high incidence of cheek abrasions. Therefore, it’s important with juvenile-age horses to have an oral examination every 6-9 months in order to monitor dental eruption, remove loose ‘caps’, and perform dental flotation to improve comfort. Dental treatment of juvenile horses also commonly includes simple extraction of rudi- mentary premolar teeth, known as ‘wolf teeth’ (it is thought that the presence of wolf teeth causes irritation with the bit). With modern dental methods, extraction of the wolf teeth should only be performed if the horse is receiving adequate sedation and analgesia.
Keep in mind, it is common for 3-4 year olds
to develop firm, focal, external swellings of the jaw known as ‘eruption bumps’ (Figure 2). These swellings are normally associated with eruption of permanent cheek teeth and will diminish in size with maturity. However, these normal bumps must be differentiated from excessively large facial swellings associated with tooth root infection, jaw fracture, or tumors of dental origin that sometimes occur in young horses. When a dental problem or abnormal swelling is encountered, the initial evaluation by the veterinarian will often include dental radiographs.
Dental ConCerns
in Horses of Different ages
By Cleet Griffin, DVM, Dipl. ABVP (Equine), Dipl. AVDC (Equine) Clinical Associate Professor, Dept. of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX • photos courtesy Texas A&M
92 SPEEDHORSE, October 2018
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