ADVICEFROMTHE VET
Diet -Sufficient forage and/or grazing •Hay as opposed to haylage •Sugar free treats/Sugar free licks Addressconcurrent dental disease – to prevent food stasis in the mouth Management/routine – ensureaccess to adequateforage,rinsing mouth well after hardfeed, not feedinghardfeed without access to moreforage
Regular dental examinations and good management of diet and routine will alwaysbe the keys to prevention, early detection and prompt treatment of caries. Talking your vethonestly and in detail through your horse’sdiet, lifestyle and routine is vital to allowthem to advise youhow to best prevent cariesand stop their progression if they find any. Should youhaveany questions on cariesorany other equine dental issuesplease don’thesitatetocontactusatAvonvale Equine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Upper cheek tooth that has had to be removeddue to fractureafter deep infundibular caries
Geography –itseems certain teethinthe mouth aremorecommonly affectedthan others (the firstand fourth upper cheek teethare more prone to infundibular caries, lowerand upper last cheek teethare moreprone to peripheral caries) Food stasis –anything that causesfood to stick around in ahorse’smouth leaves the teethsusceptible (hardfeed, tooth displacements, dental pain, diastema -gaps) Routine –feeding regimesthatreducethe amount of salivaproduced or the number of timesahorse mustchewbeforeitcan swallow Water –drinking waterhas been mentioned in some research. The effectlow PH of acid rain mayhaveonteeth brings intoquestion whether drinking watershould come from awater butt, ground waterorthe hose.
WHY DO WE NEED TO
SPOT DENTAL CARIES? Not all cement lesions arecariesbut, if present, areeasily identified on routine dental examinations and mild onesare extremely common. Once discovered, the detectivework begins but not all cariesrequiretreatment and some simple management changesmay stop them in their tracks. If cariesdoprogresstheycan lead to exposureofpulp and nerves,which,apart from being very painful, often resultsinthe death of the tooth. Theymay also lead to tooth root abscessesorsinusitis. As the tooth rots away the horse will lose both amount of grinding surfaceand structural integrity. Areduced grinding surfacecould possibly increase the risk of chokeorreducethe amount caloriesahorse canget out of itsfood by reducing the amount
of mechanical digestion possible.A reduction in structural integritymay result in fractures.
WHATCAN WE DO TO
TREATDENTAL CARIES? Conservativetreatment • Correction of malocclusions and overgrowths – this is particularly important to stopfood getting stuck in cornersand reduces the risk of teeth fracturing if theyare structurally compromised
• Diet –increase forage and reducerisk of stickyhardfood sitting around in the mouth
• Mouthwashes –regular flushing with aprescribedoralrinse mayhelp stopthe progression of caries
Invasivetreatment • Cemental reduction –smoothing the cement canreducethe risk of food sticking to the teeth
• Infundibular occlusal restoration –ifthe infundibular cariesprogressesbeyond a certain point theycan be filled to try and stopthe erosion going further and provide some structural support. If the hole in the tooth is toosmall a filling will simply fall out so not everyone is acandidate
• Extraction –thiswill treatthe offending tooth but the remaining teeth will requireclose management to ensuretheydon’tend up similarly affected
WHATCAN WE DO TO
PREVENT DENTAL CARIES? Responsible breeding –breeding from gene lineswherecariesare re- occurring should be discouraged
PleasementionCentral HorseNewswhen respondingtoAdvertisementsFEBRUARY/MARCH2021 11
LauraHart BVM&S CertAVP MRCVS Lauragraduated as aveterinary surgeon from Edinburgh Universityin2005. She then served in the British Army, as a vet, fornearly 9years.During this time, she worked all overthe world in places such as Iraq, Germany, Afghanistan and in London at the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, gaining ahuge varietyofveterinary experience. Sinceleaving the Armyshe has
worked solely in equine practiceand has completed her CertificateinAdvanced Veterinary Practice. She has aparticular love forall things equine dentistry and will soon completeall the Advanced Veterinary Practicemodulesinthe subject.
•AvonvaleEquinePractice, RatleyLodge,Ratley, Banbury,OX156DT
www.avonvaleequine.co.uk T
el:01295670501
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