Equine Dental Care: Understanding Horse Age by Teeth

1. Age of Equine It’s All in the Teeth

3. Determining Age • Age affects usefulness and value • Type, number and appearance of incisor teeth help determine correct age • 5 years or less – some combination range from all milk teeth (temporary teeth) to all permanent incisors • 6 to 12 years – number of cups (indentations) in permanent incisor teeth • 12 years & over – examine cross section and slant of incisor teeth

4. Types of Teeth • Adult horses typically have 36-44 teeth • 12 Incisors (6 upper and 6 lower) • 12 Pre-molars • 12 Molars • May have • Canines (4) • Wolf teeth (2)

5. The Numbers Make the Difference • Immature horses – Total 24 temporary teeth • Stallions & Geldings – 40-44 permanents • Most have 4 canines • Mares – Total 36-38 permanent teeth • Mares are less likely to have canines

7. Types of Teeth: • Temporary Teeth – small, white, oval shaped; wider side to side than front to rear • Permanent Teeth – yellow, larger than temporaries with a general round surface • Molars – used for grinding on each side • Incisors – used for cutting

8. What’s the Difference • 3 sets of incisors – Centrals, Middle, Corner Incisors • 12 Incisors: • 6 upper & 6 lower • Incisors have a cup or indentation in center of tooth that wears down with age and ultimately disappears

9. What’s the Difference • Pre-molars and Molars • 12 pre-molars • 12 molars • Often called cheek or jaw teeth • Used for grinding food

10. Wolf Teeth • Wolf teeth are similar to our wisdom teeth • Some horses have them, others don’t • Some have to be removed, others don’t • No functional purpose today • Residual “appendage” from past • “Wolf” used to mean “bad” • appears in front of upper molars

12. As the horse ages: • Teeth are worn down (height) • Change shape (oval to triangle) • Cup is worn away

13. The Breakdown 1 year – All temporary incisors present / Cups gone from centrals 2 year - All temporary incisors present / cups gone 3 year - Temporary central incisors replaced with permanent central incisors

14. 4 years - Temporary intermediate incisors replaced with permanent intermediate incisors • 5 years – All temporary incisors replaced with permanent incisors. Horse is full mouthed. • 6 years – Cups gone from lower central incisors • 7 years – Cups gone from lower intermediate incisors • 8 years - Cups gone from lower corner incisors

16. 9 years - Cups gone from upper central incisors • 10 years - Cups gone from upper intermediate incisors • 11 years - Cups gone from all incisors. Horse is smooth mouthed.

17. Extras • A hook (worn edge) may appear on upper corner incisors at 7 to 11 years • Galvayne’s Groove – Line that appears on the upper corner incisors around 10 to 11 years, gets longer as horse ages. • Angle of Incidence – angle at which the incisor teeth meet. Increases and teeth wear down as horse ages.

23. Extras • Floating – Filing off the sharp edges of a horse’s teeth with a rasp-like instrument.

24. Bishoping – The practice of artificially drilling, burning or staining cups in teeth of older horses. • Makes them appear younger