10/14/2026
Welcome back to our second post in our ‘Guide to equine anatomy’. If you missed yesterday’s post, feel free to go back and catch up. Today we are discussing how your horse’s teeth both wear and erupt at the same time.
Horse incisors and cheek teeth are hypsodont, meaning they have very long crowns. In a young horse, much of the crown remains below the gumline as reserve crown.
The tooth gradually erupts into the mouth as chewing wears away the exposed surface. Research suggests that cheek teeth generally wear at a rate of around 2-3 millimetres per year.
This is often described as continuous growth. However, once the ameloblasts have finished laying down the enamel part of the tooth, they die off, meaning once the tooth is formed, no more enamel can be produced. So while the teeth continue to erupt, and dentin and cementum do continue to be produced to allow for this continued eruption, the teeth actually get shorter with age!
Understanding that a tooth has a finite lifespan matters because every reduction removes tissue that cannot be replaced. Some occlusal work is needed in almost every horse to address sharp points, overgrowths, malalignment or changes contributing to periodontal disease. However, it should be targeted and limited to what is clinically necessary.
Indiscriminately flattening the natural ridges does two kinds of harm. It removes the textured surface the horse needs to crush fibrous feed, much like trying to cut hay between two sheets of glass. It also uses up more of the tooth’s finite crown, potentially shortening its functional life and making effective chewing more difficult as the horse ages.
Image credit to Frontiers
