Ask The Vet: Dental Care - February 09

It is difficult to say what the lesions are without seeing your mare. I would encourage you to work with your regular attending veterinarian to get to the bottom of this. It is possible that these are a "medical" issue (i.e.: perhaps viral in origin) rather than a dental issue.

It is possible that her labored breathing is related to a dental issue (or a sinus issue). I would encourage you to work with your attending veterinarian to radiograph her nasal cavities and skull. A complete oral examination with sedation and a speculam would also be helpful.

The term "floating" was used in the early days as it means "to smooth or level out".

I am wondering that when you unbridle if you are inadvertantly "dropping" the bit and allowing it to hit the canine teeth? I would also like you (or your equine veterinarian) to examine your horse's canines to see if they have previously been aggressively "rounded" or "shortened". This can potentially damage the pulp canal in the tooth, making the tooth susceptable to further injury and damage. This may also cause the canine tooth to be more sensitive than normal.

The pulp canal in this tooth is large; it is possible to damage the pulp if we "don't know what we are doing". I do not like to be overly aggressive with these teeth for this reason. I hope that this information will help you.

When I see an older horse with abnormal wear characteristics in their dentition, I am very, very conservative in "correcting" the abnormal patterns. In my opinion, something that took many years to happen, cannot be corrected in one treatment. I am wondering if the increased quidding is from your mare adapting to the changes made in her mouth one month ago.

In my opinion, I would expect the periodontal pocket to be extremely painful and would be causing her to have an abnormal chewing pattern (i.e. not in a circular motion). I would expect your mare to be chewing more "up and down" trying to mash her feed rather than grind it. Is this the case? You might also want to watch when she eats to see if she packs her right buccal pocket (does she look like a chipmunk on her right side). If she does, in my opinion, she is packing the side to try to protect from the pain.

If this makes sense, and she is packing her right side, then I would work with your attending veterinarian to correct the cause of the periodontal pocket and to treat the pocket. In my opinion, this will make your horse more comfortable and will hopefully reduce her quidding.

These questions are difficult to answer for your horse, however, I will answer "in general terms". Horses with worn down molars can and do safely eat hay and grass although they may have difficulty masticating (grinding) it. I generally do not switch a horse over to a completely processed feed until such time that they have virtually no functional molars remaining.

I am unable to answer your question on "return to function" without seeing your horse's mouth. What you refer to as over-filing may be different than what I am thinking, so I will have to pass on this part of the question, sorry.

Loose manure can be caused by many different things in horses. Improper mastication can make it difficult for a horse to obtain all of the nutrition that it requires from its diet. In my opinion, improper mastication can affect the fecal output of a horse, however, this has not been demonstrated in a scientific study.

It sounds like you are on the right track. You don't mention what is in the soaked mash (other than hay cubes), so I will add that it should contain a significant portion of a "senior" feed. Senior feeds typically are balanced for vitamins and minerals for geriatric patients. The senior feeds are also designed that they can be the sole source of nutrition for a geriatric, dental challenged patient.

Unless your mare has other issues (laminitis for example), I would turn her out on "longer" grass. If her incisors are completely gone, she will be unable to cut off the very short grass that you are turning her out on (she may be able to "uproot" it by catching it in her lips and pulling it out). If you turn her out on longer grass, she will probably be able to get more grass by adapting her prehension. I have also had clients take electric hedge trimmers and "cut" up their hay into shorter lengths. Once cut short, they soak it for a few minutes in warm water (so it absorbs some moisture but does not loose its nutritive value) and then feed it to their horse. This provides them with increased fiber, something to chew on, and also something to keep them occupied. If all the geriatric patient gets is a soaked mash twice daily, they spend much of the day without much to do.

You would need to check with the equine dental "person". However, I recommend that you use the services of your equine veterinarian to provide dental and health care for your equine companion. Your veterinarian is trained and experienced in understanding all "issues" concerning your equine companion.

I routinely do not give the horse time off after dental work. I will explain why I don't (however, other vets may suggest that you do). I incorporate an analgesic (pain reliever) in all of my dental procedures to minimize discomfort to the horse. Even though most procedures are relatively brief, I have the horses mouth held open in the speculam for a period of time. I feel that this is uncomfortable to the horse, therefore I use an analgesic. The other reason I do not recommend time off after a procedure is normally my dental procedures are very "atraumatic" (i.e. no nicks, scrapes or blood) when I float a horse. If your regular veterinarian is atraumatic when they work in your horse's mouth, in my opinion, you should be fine to put them back to work the next day.

The loss of an incisor is normal at this age. It should not be causing a bad breath in your 2-year-old. I would ask your vet to check for a retained deciduous cap on a premolar (retained baby grinding tooth). These will sometimes become infected or packed with feed material that begins to decay. They will cause a significant bad odor to the horses breath. Your horse should be sedated and your vet will use a speculam so that they can do a complete oral exam to determine if this is the source of the bad odor.

Thanks Lesley for the very interesting question. Well, where to start.... I would suggest you try the following things (and your vet has probably suggested a lot of these things already):

1) Carefully check your bit(s) on your dressage bridle. Look for anywhere that is rough, burred, etc. If the bit(s) is not a problem, try a different bit(s) in the same bridle. Do you have the same problem with a different bit in the same bridle?

2) Ride the horse in the dressage bridle without your nose band. Also have your vet palpate all points on the facial crest where your bridle comes in contact with it.

3) Try riding your horse in the dressage bridle with an appropriate dose of phenylbutazone (have your vet prescribe a dose suitable for your horse). Let's see if your horse still has a head shaking episode when they are on a dose of pain relief. If the head shaking is diminished, then it can suggest that there is some point of pain somewhere. (Doesn't tell us where, but it can give us some extra information.)

4) My last suggestion (sorry I haven't given you any answers) is to see if your vet will sedate your horse and examine the oral cavity with a speculam and preferably a rigid endoscope. (A flexible endoscope will work but many vets are reluctant to put them in a horses mouth, however, if they are properly sedated, your vet's scope will be safe). If a scope is not available, a thorough exam with a good light source and an excellent dental mirror is a much "inferior" way to check. I am concerned that your horse may have a periodontal pocket or diastemata. These can be extremely painful for the horse and can be difficult to see or feel unless you are looking closely for them.

5) If the "chip" at the poll is where the problem lies, I would expect that you would get a pain response when your vet palpates over the poll. I also would not expect an improvement in a hackamore since the hackamore still goes over the poll.

Good luck! Please let us know if we solve the mystery.

Without seeing your pony's roof of his mouth, it sounds like you are describing a condition called "lampas," which is completely normal. In some horses, the soft tissue on the roof of the mouth extends lower than the chewing surface of the incisors. This can be completely normal. Since the incisors (front teeth) are used to "cut off" the grass, this soft tissue does not interfere or cause any harm. This condition is likely not associated with his loss of appetite for his grain.

No. In my experience, sugary grains and treats are not known to cause cavities in horses.

Your correct in saying many people will provide many different answers. In my opinion, it is not so much the type of tool that is used to do the job, but rather the person operating the tool.

It is important that the person examining your horses' mouth and then working to correct any abnormalities in your their mouth should be an equine veterinarian. There is an old adage that goes "there is a whole horse connected to that tooth".

Seriously though, I would recommend having your vet examine your pony. They will likely request your permission to give your pony a sedative so that they can place a speculam in your pony's mouth. In order to determine the extent of the pony's dental health it is important that they not only see in the mouth, but they must also be able to palpate each tooth, the bars, the tongue, gum tissue, etc.... This is next to impossible to perform safely without sedation and a speculam.

This exam will then dicate the treatment. If your pony only has sharp points, then it will be beneficial to remove these to make it more comfortable for your pony to eat. If there are other dental abnormalities identified on the initial exam, it may be necessary to do more than "just float the teeth".