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Straight From the Horse's Mouth

A Primer on Horse Teeth - Information from World Wide Association of Equine Dentistry

Unique Natural Design

Did you ever wonder why, when the dry season comes grass turns yellow but does not wilt like your houseplants do when they need water? A ladder-like skeleton of silica internally supports Grass blades. This is an additional to the cell walls like those that make a stalk of celery stiff. Silica is what a pane of glass is made of, or quartz rock, or sand. With every mouth full of food he takes, it is as if your horse has to chew up a certain amount of ground glass.

Since his diet differs so much from yours, there are a lot of differences between your mouth and the teeth and those of your horse. The first thing to notice about the normal equine mouth as a whole is that, when the mouth is closed the incisors and the cheek teeth meet bluntly and simultaneously. The lengths and angles of the incisors and cheek teeth must match precisely to permit the horse to chew properly. By contrast, your incisors overlap to allow your cheek teeth to meet.

The length of the crown of the teeth in horses is much greater than in people. Most of the length of you horse’s cheek teeth is stored within his upper and lower jaws. Only about ½ inch of each cheek tooth protrudes from the gum. As the grass wears the teeth, they push out from their sockets like lipsticks. The pressure of chewing helps the body regulate the rate at which the teeth push out.

The horse tooth (left) has a much longer crown than the human tooth (right)

In the wild, when an animal’s teeth wear out, it dies. Long tooth crowns are the main factor that compensates for the abrasive silica in grass, and thus in the wild, are the ultimate determinant of a horse’s life span. Domestic horses can be kept alive on special feeds even after all teeth have worn out. However, this is a last resort. Modern equine dentistry can significantly extend the useful lifetime of your horse’s teeth as well as enhance his comfort and your safety under the artificial condition of bitting.

Most of the length of the cheek teeth is "stored" in the lower jaws. When the mouth is closed, the horse's cheek and incisor teeth should meet bluntly and simultaneously.

When a wild horse is hungry, he goes to a place where there is grass to eat and the he puts his nose down and begins biting off the blades. To do this, he uses his upper lip to grasp a group of blades: his tongue to orient the blades as they come into his mouth: and his incisor teeth to nip them off.

Repeated chews work the mass into a spiraling, cigar shaped wad. Blades get chopped finer and finer as they work their way down the cheek battery from front to rear and are then swallowed.

Chewing action thoroughly mixes the chopped blades with saliva, which is the first digestive juice. (It’s important not to forget that the oral cavity is the first part of the horse’s digestive system). After chewing and swallowing a segment of one "cigar", the horse lowers its head to bite off another bunch of blades the next mouthful may be chewed on either the right or the left side, but horses can chew on only one side of the mouth at a time. A normal horse distributes the effort evenly. 

The horse can chew on only one side of its mouth at a time. This shows the chewing cycle in front view

Your horse lives under conditions quite different from those found in the wild. Three artificial conditions that impact your horse’s mouth are:

• He lives inside of a fenced area
• Most of his diet is made up of processed feeds (grain and Hay).
• He is not able to graze outside twelve hours or more per day.

Radio- tracking studies of mustangs show that the animals travel an average of thirty to forty miles per day throughout the year. They do this a natural consequence of their search for food and water. The impact of fences (confinement) on domestic horses has often been documented- for example, on stress levels, on the condition of their feet and legs, and on parasite loads. Fences enclosing groups of horses often create a dry lot condition under which there is little or no plant material available to graze. This makes feeding hay and grain necessary.

Although processed feeds still give your horse’s cheek grinders a work out, he dose not nip these foods before brining them into his mouth.

Over time, this results in failure of the horse’s incisors to keep pace in ware with the cheek teeth. The incisors become so long that they partially or totally prevent the cheek teeth from touching. This in turn makes it impossible for your horse to chew properly. And that in turn, can have some really horrific consequences.

Over-long incisor teeth prevent cheek teeth from touching, promoting the development of wavy grinding surfaces with sharp "hooks" (see arrows)

• Temporo-mandibular (TM or jaw joint) pain, causing the to be difficult or unsteady on the bit.
• Various forms of "snaggletooth" or wavy mouth, causing uneven pressure and the development of sharp hooks at the fore and aft ends of the cheek tooth batteries. Hooks can eventually become so long that they gouge the gum above or below, creating abscesses and pain which can in turn cause the horse to stiffen his neck or cock its head when ridden or driven.
• Sharp points on the inner and outer edges of the cheek teeth. Points cause cheek and tongue abrasions, and again a tendency to fight the bit.
• Failure to properly grind food, resulting in significant waste of food, and more seriously, increasing the frequency of colic. (In order for horses to absorb water and nutrients in the gut, a "mush" of chopped grass blades must be continually present there; not long unchewed stems balled up like twine).

You can detect many common dental problems by observing your horses. Some behaviors that look like "quirks" may actually be due to a dental problem!

The angle at which the incisor teeth meet can get too steep, forcing the lower jaw back and causing discomfort when bitted.

• Does your horse stuff as much grain into his face as possible with each bite, then dribble much of it all over the ground as he chews?Horses whose cheek grinders do not meet properly will chew "gain on grain".
• Does you horse act like he is mad at his hay- butting it with his head or grabbing and shaking it before he eats it? Horses whose teeth hurt them or whose cheek grinders don’t meet properly shake hay—especially alfalfa to knock the nutritious leaves off. They survive and even fatten by licking up thee leaves and small shattered stems. Of course this wastes more than 50% of the feed you have paid for!
• Does your horse spit out wads or balls of stems? Horses whose teeth are missing or who have sore cheeks, gums, or teeth will suck and gum hay, swallowing leaves and fine stems but spitting out stem-balls or quids
• Does your horse’s water bucket look like a slime pit? Have you observed him washing his hay or even dunking mouthfuls in to the water while he chews them? Horses who need a dentist’s attention soak hay to soften it before attempting to chew or swallow.
• How does your horse’s breath smell? Rotten smells or any smell other than that of sweet, green grass is a sign of trouble. Horses get tooth cavities" and gum disease that cause bad breath just like people!
• Does he tip, wring, or toss his head when bitted? Uneven development of bones or muscles often means wear on the teeth inside the mouth. Unsteady on the bit may also mean trouble.

Your horse's "smile" should like the picture on the right

Exaggerated "smile"

S-shaped smile

Missing tooth

• Look at your horses front teeth from the side. Do you see overshot (left) or undershot teeth (right)?In the older horse, do the lower teeth constantly show when ridden? A competent equine dentist can often help overshot and undershot horses. In the older horse, the teeth grow out from the jaws at a more horizontal angle, but should not be allowed to become too long.

• Place your hands against your horse’s cheeks. Gently press in and upward, pressing the cheek against the teeth inside. Dose the horse flinch? Does your horse dislike the cavesson or bosal or seem exceptionally grumpy? About having his head handled?  These are all signs that the horse has sharp points on the teeth.

• Do you own a young horse? Between the ages of 2 and 5, your horse is going to erupt about 40 permanent teeth and shed 24 baby teeth or caps.  You can greatly increase your horse’s comfort and promote future good dental health by having the equine dentist pull adhering caps at the right time.

• Do you own an older horse?  Barring injury, horse’s teeth come to the end of their lives beginning about age 20.  Loose, expires teeth are often painful to the horse and may cause him to eat very slowly or to fail to grind food thoroughly, and thus to drop weight and condition.

• Does treatment hurt my horse?  The nerve in horse’s teeth lies much deeper than in human teeth.  Examination procedures in the equipment such as the dental speculum, and floating the teeth do not normally give the horse pain.

• Are there any procedures that might cause the horse discomfort? Yes - the extraction of teeth, adjustment of incisor length, and re-shaping of the cheek teeth to name three.  Professional equine dentists avail themselves of pain-relieving medication and/or chemical restraint (anaesthetic) when performing any procedure that is likely to to frighten the horse or cause him discomfort.

• Who administers pain medication? In most cases a veterinarian or qualified technician administers injectable pain relieving medication and /or chemical restraint.
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• What is the contraption you’re putting on his head?  The dental speculum helps to keep the horses mouth open so that the equine dentist can examine the horse’s rear cheek teeth thoroughly and safely.  When properly adjusted and used it does not hurt the horse.

Professional equine dentists often offer dental examination and consultation free of charge if you then opt to have the horse treated.  We are committed to helping horse owners understand the nature of any problems, and we encourage owners to participate in developing management plans for horses with dental problems.

Equine Dentists may work alone or in conjunction with a veterinarian. You can expect to pay a veterinarian’s call fee, fee for treatment, and the cost of the drugs administered if any. Charges are based on type of work performed Here are a list of possible services.

Contact Dr. Bissmeyer to schedule your dental appointment allcreatures@sierratel.com 

• Examination, evaluation and consultation
• Educational demonstrations
• Removal of wolf teeth
• Pull caps or expired baby teeth
• Float (grind off sharp points)
• Cut and smooth canines, remove plaque buildup from canines
• Performance floating (especially beneficial top horses with high-performance careers)
• Incisor adjustments (shorten long incisor or reshape incisors, which have worn more on one side than the other, thus unbalancing the mouth)
• Cut hooks from fore and aft ends of cheek batteries
• Occlusal table adjustments (grind off uneven snaggle teeth and reshape grinding surfaces of cheek teeth)
• Tooth extraction