Dental

	If you own a horse, more thank likely you have had your vet 'float' your horses' teeth. When should you worry about dental with your horse? Well, if you ride your horse at all, then you should check its teeth once each year. Unless your vet has 'power tools', they will use a rasp to float teeth. It is important to note here that horses' teeth grow throughout their lifetime, and there is only so much tooth, so if rasped improperly or too much, the tooth will be filed away to nothing eventually. Trying to float teeth with a rasp and not having a mechanism to hold the horse's mouth open is just asking for trouble - it's like letting your dentist work on your mouth without looking. So, hire a professional equine dentist that has the proper power drills and tools to hold your horses' mouth open while they look - opt for drugs so that your horse can be relaxed and stand still while his mouth is getting looked at and fixed. How do you know if your horse needs dental? You can run your fingers along the outside of his cheek - along his teeth in the back - if they are having a problem, they will flinch. You might find your horse is tossing his head a lot or not wanting the bit in its mouth. Even a halter or hackamore can put painful pressure on sharp tooth edges.
	Horses chew from side to side, so their teeth should be flat, no sharp edges, no cups, no hooks. They lose teeth just like we do. A horses' first dental check up should be at age 3 or prior to any training/riding. As they begin to lose teeth, sometimes a baby tooth might get 'stuck' and cause pain just like ours do. Your equine dentist can take out loose teeth to prevent training issues. At age 5 or 6, they get their final molars in, and there could be issues there as well. Have your equine dentist check your horse on an annual basis to prevent problems that arise during training. Below is a horse that came to me for training years ago, without having dental done first. I noticed right away that she tossed her head a lot. Upon looking in her mouth, she had wolf teeth, sharp edges and hooks. Her owners didn't realize it because they had not used her at all. This is why we insist on dental checks before we begin training - this horse endured pain while training (although it was caught right away, she still experienced pain) which set her training back. In addition, it added a week to her training because we had to take time out to get her teeth done and wait a day for them to heal before we began again.
	Wolf teeth are smaller teeth that sometimes grow in front of the premolars - unlike the other teeth, wolf teeth have many nerves in them and the horse feels every little bump. So when you put the bit in the horses' mouth, it causes incredible pain for them. She had to have both wolf teeth pulled. Some horses get them on top and bottom, some only get one, some do not get them at all. With regular dental work, your dentist can prevent the horse from ever experiencing pain from wolf teeth.
	In addition, this horse had ulcerations from the sharp edges that had developed on her teeth from chewing. Notice how sharp the edges of her teeth are - then look at her cheek - see the sores in her mouth. It is just like us biting our cheek, but for a horse, they constantly chew on their cheeks if their teeth are sharp. They can have sores on their tongue as well. You might notice the soreness if your horse chews really slow, picks at his food, tosses his head a lot or becomes thin.
	Looking at the side of her mouth in the front, you can see how the tooth has developed a hook overlapping the other tooth. This can be caused from genetics or from lack of dental care. Hooks cause the horse's jaw to not move freely when they chew - they can have eating problems that you might notice in weight loss. Another issue with hooks on the molars in the back is that the horse can get his hooks on the bit and the horse will then take hold of the bit so you are no longer in control when riding.
	Here is an example of before and after photo. Look closely at the edges of the teeth in the first photo - sharp edges. Now, in the second photo, after proper equine dental work, you can see how rounded the edges of the teeth look. I am sure this horse is way more comfortable and ready to go to work!

Chance 2 Ranch uses Katrina Risk, Equine Dentist, for all dental work. She is very thorough and has all the power tools to properly care for your horses' teeth. You can reach her at (517) 877-0498.