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Equine Dentistry

• All horses should have their teeth checked once each year.
• Horses under 6 years of age should have their teeth checked 2 times per year.
• All horses should have their teeth checked prior to going into training.
• Proper dental care is key to maintaining overall health of your horse.

Regular periodic examination and maintenance of your horse’s teeth should be performed.  Your horse’s premolars and molars are wide and flat to act highly efficient grinding surfaces for chewing forage.   The normal chewing motion of yourhorse’s teeth creates sharp enamel edges which cause pain to cheek surface.  In addition a horse with sharp enamel edges cannot grind its feed as efficiently. 

Routine horse dental care is referred to as floating.  Floating is a masonry term, which means to level.  Therefore, floating the teeth levels the sharp painful enamel edges, and creates a more even bite plane.  In addition to routine care, many otherdental procedures are necessary for common dental problems.

There are many dental problems that can affect a horse’s comfort, performance, and health. These dental problems include hooks, retained baby teeth, broken or missing teeth, and incisor misalignments.  These problems may not be evident to an owner. Regular dental evaluation will detect these problems.

Signs that your horses is in need of dental care:

• Dropping feed or difficulty chewing
• Weight loss
• Head tossing
• Resistance in bridle
• Choking

Thorough dental examination can often be performed without sedation. Routine floating and most dental procedures are performed with the horse standing under sedation. 

Routine dental evaluation and care should be done a minimum of annually.   Horses under 7 years and performance horses often need care every 6 months.  

Studies have shown that more than 90% of horses under 5 years of age have lacerations on the inside of their cheeks and tongue from their sharp teeth.

All horses should have their teeth evaluated by a veterinarian prior to going into training.

Call Dr. Finn to schedule an evaluation of your horse. 360-297-3323