For the last 20 years I’ve seen many remarkable changes in veterinary medicine, but none with a more profound effect than modern equine dentistry and the tools involved with this technique.
It wasn’t long ago that horses were deemed not functional by their mid to late teens, and considered 'old nags' in their twenties. We now know that this was largely due to poor dental care and realize just how important dental health is to the overall health of the horse. This is easily illustrated by the numbers of horses competing well into their twenties and having healthy productive lives into their thirties.
Southside Equine Services is proud to utilize the latest dental equipment available for the diagnosis and treatment of dental disease and maintenance of dental health. Yearly dental checkups from the time horses are twelve to eighteen months old may allow for the correction of many abnormalities before they effect the health of the horse.
Conditions in young horses such as parrot mouth, abnormal shedding of baby teeth (caps), and even traumatic injuries may now be dealt with in a manner that allows the animal to lead a normal healthy life without permanent changes.
Adult horses can not only benefit from the correction of spurs and hooks that may have affected their performance but can also have correction for other major dental anomalies. Differential growth rates of teeth or incorrect alignment of teeth that can lead to wave patterns or large dental spurs that may only be visualized with a speculum exam. These dental issues can now be easily corrected with our new power dental tools, thus turning those “poor doers” into “easy keepers” with one visit. We now recognize situations such as broken or displaced teeth easily through thorough exams before these conditions can lead systemic infections/disease.
In geriatric horses dental care is essential. Permanent teeth start to be lost as the horse enters its mid-twenties. As these teeth reach the end of their lives, the roots become exposed leading to marked cases of infection of the gums (gingivitis). These chronic, low-grade infections may even lead to the untimely death of these animals. Relatively simple dental procedures and removal of aged teeth allow these older horses access to a healthy life.
Signs of dental problems:
Weight loss in the face of adequate feed
Biting problems (head tossing, won’t give to one direction or the other)
Dropping food while eating
Quidding (balling up of forage and dropping it back onto the ground)
Chewing sideways
Nasal discharge (usually from one nostril) with a foul odor