August is International Dental Month for Horses

Horse teeth

Did you know horses have 36 teeth and up to four听wolf teeth?

Your horse鈥檚 dental hygiene is important to good mouth health.

Did you know that horses require regular dental exams? Did you know that horses are hypsodonts, just like rabbits, sheep and听cows. This means their teeth constantly grow and are worn down by the action used to chew fibrous feed.听听Horse's听mouths need regular dental examinations to ensure teeth are growing evenly and there are no sharp points causing ulceration to the cheeks and tongue.

At the EHPC we pride ourselves on performing thorough dental examinations听using sedation, mirror, a dental gag and light or even dental video-endoscope.听听This allows us to thoroughly examine every aspect of your horse鈥檚 mouth. A regular dental check allows early identification and management of more serious conditions like caries.

We use motorised dental equipment听rather than manual rasping.听听This helps ensure that sharp points and overgrowths are corrected as quickly as possible without causing harm to your horse鈥檚 mouth. Our newer motorised dental equipment (Terafloat) even has extra lights in the shaft to ensure we always have adequate visualisation of your horse鈥檚 teeth when performing our corrections. It is battery operated, so we can perform dentistry on site even when no power is available.

The link below provides a great summary of equine dentistry, if you have any further questions or wish to book an appointment please don鈥檛 hesitate to contact us on 8313 1999.

Tagged in Horses, Roseworthy Veterinary Hospital