The amount of time a horse spends chewing and the type of food that it
chews (grass, hay, grain, supplements) dramatically affects the way the
teeth wear and how quickly the sharp points form. Horses living in the
wild spend over half of every day chewing and chew more fibrous diets
than horses that are domesticated. These factors combine to make dental
problems less common in wild horses. Additionally, wild horses don’t
live as long as domesticated horses so they have less time to develop
dental abnormalities. Some bad habits that a lot of stabled horses have,
such as chewing on wooden fences and cribbing, also negatively impact
how the teeth wear. When points on the teeth are very small they may not
cause any obvious problems but as they get larger you may start to notice
some things. Signs that your horse has a dental abnormality may include any of the following:
resistance to take the bit, throwing the head when being ridden, dropping food when eating,
spitting out large wads of hay, weight loss, facial swelling, and bad breath.
By the time you notice some of the above signs, the dental abnormalities may be severe. To
prevent things from getting to this stage it is recommended that every horse have an annual dental
evaluation. A yearly exam provides the opportunity to find problems when they are in the early
stages and correct them before severe problems develop. Horses don’t have their full set of adult
teeth until they are about 5 years old. Therefore, horses that are 2-5 years old may need more
frequent dental care to keep up with all the changes occurring in their mouth during this time.
To examine your horse’s teeth the veterinarian will sedate your horse and put a large metal gadget,
called a speculum, in their mouth. The speculum allows us to look and feel in their mouth without
the risk of getting bitten. Once an examination of the cheek teeth has been performed, the cheek
teeth will be “floated”. Floating is the term used to describe removing the sharp enamel points.
There are two main categories of “floats”, hand floats and power floats. Hand floats are like long
sharp files and have been around for a long time. Power floats are like a long handled electric drill
with a sharp burr on the end and are a more recent development in equine dentistry. The main
advantages of using a power float are that it doesn’t require as much physical strength to operate
and you can finish the procedure much quicker.
Pictured below are the upper left cheek
teeth of a horse prior to floating. As you can
see in the picture the edges of the teeth that are
against the cheek tissue are very sharp and
have caused a small ulcer. There is also a hook
on the first cheek tooth and one of the back
cheek teeth has grown too long. These are all
common findings during a routine yearly dental
examination and can easily be corrected with
appropriate floating.
