07/06/2026
As a continuation from the previous post about old horses.
Here on the left hand side we have a 32 year old thoroughbred that has had her teeth looked after all of her life by a qualified EDT and then myself (vet and qualified EDT). On the right we have a 27 year old Welsh A pony with a "sketchy" dental history. As you can see, despite being much older and much larger, the TB has perfect teeth whereas the Welsh A has already lost a large number of his. The TB can eat her hay as normal but the Welsh A needs a hay replacer diet.
Conformation of the teeth absolutely has an impact, but whether good or poor conformation, horses keep their teeth much longer if they have regular, good quality dentistry. Nowadays we expect our horses to live well into their 20s and 30s so we need to be extra vigilant about looking after their teeth. Feeding adequate qualities of hay replacer is a very expensive business!
So why does regular dentistry help the teeth last longer?
Dentistry involves a lot of biomechanics, similar to farriery. We aim to maintain balance across the whole mouth. In the same way that unbalanced feet will result in lameness issues, small dental imbalances can spiral to become major issues surprisingly quickly, which causes pain and tooth loss.
If I take a really basic example, sometimes one tooth becomes dominant over its opposing partner. There are several ways this can happen, even in a horse fed a natural diet and with good oral conformation.
- Sometimes when the adult teeth erupt in a young horse, they don't always erupt at the same time. If one comes through before its partner, it can become taller than the others before its partner manages to meet it.
- In old horses, the teeth slow their growth with age, but sometimes one tooth slows before its partner and the partner over grows.
- Another cause is when one tooth has a very mild deformity resulting in less enamel than its partner, and the partner overpowers it due to being harder and stronger.
- We can also see teeth with small chip fractures that doesn't kill the tooth, but does reduce the surface area allowing its partner to overpower it.
As you can see, this can happen to any horse over time, even if the teeth look straight, even if the horse lives a natural life, and even if the horse receives regular dental care. However when the horse receives regular care, the practitioner will address these overgrowths before they become issues. It might just be a millimetre here or there if caught early enough. Without correction, this spirals and causes further problems like diastema (gaps) or displacements (wonky teeth) due to the extra forces being put on the tooth pushing it over. This is particularly a problem in older horses where the crown is as long as the root. When the tooth becomes taller than all of the others, it is put under extra pressure and so the tooth is very slowly wobbled loose until it falls out.
This is just one example of the ways teeth can be lost. There are many others!
Having your horses teeth regularly looked after by a qualified professional pays dividends in the long run. The small payment once or twice a year will save you a fortune as the horse ages. Not just by preventing expensive referral procedures but also in hay replacer feed! Well worth it.
Remember routine dentistry is basic care, not a luxury.
