Dentistry and Floating the Teeth of Horses
  by Robert N. Oglesby DVM

The horse evolved to eat large quantities of forage, often containing abrasive silicates, for prolonged periods of the day. This placed great demands on the teeth. To compensate the horse developed teeth with very long crowns, called hypsodont teeth. The long reserve of crown is embedded in the deep alveolus of the surrounding bone in the young horse. Unlike humans, who's teeth are fully erupted at maturity, the equine teeth slowly erupt over most of the horses life at a rate of about 2 - 3 mm/year. In the ideal world this eruption rate just matches the wear rate and the rate sustains healthy teeth over the life of the horse. Domestication and the recent availability of inexpensive concentrates has changed this balance and to some degree the problems faced by horses today:

• The teeth do not wear down as fast resulting in the formation of sharp enamel points.
• Bridles, halters, and bits create areas where soft tissue is caught between the tack and the teeth.
• Horses are living much longer than they did in the wild so often the teeth are wearing out before the horse does.

As a result equine dentistry faces new challenges to address these problems. Often the reasons for intervention and the effect of our interventions have not been studied so we are left with the opinions of those who work on a lot of horse teeth. Recently case reports and some experiments have been being published along with a explosion of equipment to address these problems.

Many horses, particularly older horses, suffer from dental disease. Clinical signs can range from mouth odor and pain to the point that it is functionally impossible for the horse to chew enough food to maintain weight. It also seems apparent that functional teeth can develop problems that cause discomfort when tack is applied. There is a thought among some who feel we have gone from not effectively addressing serious problems to the opposite extreme where functional teeth are being worked on to the detriment of the horse and the owners pocket book.

In this article we explain the anatomy of the horses teeth in the foal and adult horse and we make recommendations for routine dental care based on your goals and the horses endeavors while examining the controversial aspects of some procedures. Also discussed are common tooth problems addressed by dentistry and their treatment. More severe problems of the horses mouth are covered at Disorders of the Horse's Mouth.