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MB Article - Guest Column: Michael Lowder, DVM, MS: Dentistry Important To Equine Health

Our guest columnist this week is Dr. Michael Lowder, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA30602.

Have you noticed that your horse is not responding to the bit like he used to?  Have you stood outside his stall at feeding time and watched grain dropping from his mouth during the meal?  Has your older horse lost weight over this past year?  These can all be subtle signs of dental disease in your horse.

Dental disease is one of the most common equine diseases and one of the most commonly misdiagnosed conditions of horses.  Symptoms can vary from head tossing to bad breath and obvious swellings on the head.  Although dental problems are extremely frequent, some effort is required to perform a proper oral exam.  All horses should have yearly dental examinations performed by their veterinarian. 

Dental examinations should be routinely scheduled to coincide with annual vaccinations and testing for equine infectious anemia.  A proper dental schedule includes an examination during the foal check, at one year of age, twice yearly from two years of age to around five, and then at least yearly after that.

Why start so early?  This is the best time to detect malocclusion (over or under-bite) in foals.  If detected early, most foals can have their bite corrected with orthodontics.  At one year of age, most males and some fillies will need to have their wolf teeth extracted and their molars examined to make sure all baby teeth have properly erupted.

Between the ages of two and five, your horse has the potential to erupt 36-44 new teeth and lose 24 baby teeth.  This is when most horsemen are breaking, training and most importantly, deciding the future for their horse.  This is also one of the most important times in a horse’s life for dental care.  After five or six years of age, most horses will require only a yearly dental examination.  However, many competition horses may need biannual dental examinations to keep them at the top of their game.

Not anyone can perform a dental examination in the state of Georgia.  Veterinary dentistry is considered the practice of veterinary medicine, according to the Georgia Veterinary Practice Act.  Therefore, only licensed veterinarians or personnel working with them under direct employment are allowed by law to practice veterinary dentistry.  Horsemen should work closely with their veterinarian to ensure that their horse’s dental needs are being met.