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Older horses and/or horses that don't get a normal amount of grazing can
get "long in the tooth", i.e., the front teeth are not worn down enough
naturally. When the front teeth are too long, they can actually prevent
the molars (back teeth) from touching. When this happens, the back
molars which DO get worn from chewing, can no longer touch enough to
grind the food effectively. So, yes, it could be true that your mare
needs work on the front.
HOWEVER, I'd get a second opinion if she is holding her weight well. A
sure sign of this type of tooth problem is that it becomes hard to keep
weight on the horse because their ineffective chewing. And there's no
sense in paying for something unnecessary!
Good Luck -
Diana Benson
Joplin MO
On Tue, 04 Mar 1997 15:24:27 -0500 (EST) TETERVIN@bms.com writes:
>A local equine dentist took a look at an 18 year old Arab mare of mine
>and
>pronounced that she needs "incisor reduction", which entails grinding
>down the
>surfaces of her non-molar teeth- the front ones. He said he would have
>to take
>it down just about to the root canal! This sounds wacky to me but I
>have never
>used an equine dentist before so I may just be ignorant. He said that
>the
>surfaces of her molars are not meeting correctly because he front
>teeth are
>too long. He also mentioned rounding off the front edges of her first
>molar so
>the bit would lay better? She is in excellent flesh and does not drop
>her food.She has routine
>tooth maintenance once or twice a year, done by a vet. Please
>enlighten me.
>Thanks -Amy
>
>
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