Teeth....the doorway to digestion!

I thought I would write a bit about teeth.  Horses are continual erupters as opposed to rodents, beavers and rabbits who are continual growers.  The erupters continually erupt teeth with age & when there is no more tooth - the erupting stops.  The growers are continually growing new teeth.  So the erupters have all the tooth in place as opposed to the growers who make new teeth.  Makes sense, a beaver or rodent wears down a lot of teeth with their occupations & their teeth are such an arsenal for their survival....they can't afford to be without.  Now with horses, if they lose a tooth for some reason - it is gone for good, however, the opposing tooth now will have nothing to grind against & maintain itself so as it continues to erupt with time - it will get longer & longer.  The worst case of this I ever saw was in vet school.  We had a late teens stallion admitted because they couldn't figure out his weight loss.  His teeth were seen as the "root" of the problem.  I was fortunate enough to be in on that surgery & in fact I still have the problem tooth.  The problem was that he had lost one of his molars (his cheek teeth) apparently several years before.  The opposing tooth, with nothing to grind it down, continued to erupt until it was actually growing into the opposite gum.  You now see the problem.  This was the most extreme I have ever seen & I have done a LOT of dentals.  Mostly, I see sharp points that are cutting the tongue & or cheek.  When does this start???  Great question - think of a puppy, think of their razor sharp puppy teeth & oh is it nice when they finally lose all of them & get their much more pleasant adult teeth.  A horse will have baby teeth for upwards of 5 years.  In that time their mouths can look like the Himalayan Mountains.  With sharp baby teeth, lost baby teeth, adults starting to come in but still much shorter than the baby's - you get the picture.  My words of advice.  If you are starting a 2 or 3 year old in a bridle - please get their teeth floated - get the razor sharp baby edges taken off so their starting experience is more pleasant.  Between the ages of 2 - 5, it is a good idea to have them floated at least once if not a couple of times.  Then they MAY be good until their teens (not always, but many are). 

A word about wolf teeth.  I am not of the school that they have them so they should be removed.  Most vets & trainers subscribe to that theory.  Some certainly do interfere with the bit & need to be removed, but please be judicial about removing them.  If they are in a position not to cause a problem & the horse isn't showing signs of the bit/wolf tooth interaction being uncomfortable - then no need to remove the wolf teeth. 

There you have a few random thoughts & suggestions to "gnaw" on.