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Skull
with bone removed over the cheek teeth. Note how much more
distinct the roots are and how much shorter the reserve
crown is compared to the photo below. |
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Skull
with bone removed over the cheek teeth in a relatively young
horse |
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This
is the lower jaw of a quite old horse, and you can see that
it is about to run out of crown and is almost down to the
roots. |
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The
upper cheek teeth of a young horse with full length reserve
crown. This horse is around 5 yrs of age. Note the long
reserve crowns that covers the whole side of the face. The
maxillary sinus is just beside it. |
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This
photo shows a deep ulcer inside the chin caused by sharp
enamel points on the molar teeth |
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Epulis
(benign gingival growths) or gingival hyperplasia around
the incisors and the canine tooth |
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Skull
showing sharp enamel points - before floating) on the molars
and the start of a ramp of the first lower molar. |
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Skull
showing the same teeth after floating and the creation of
a so called bit seat (rounded pm2) on the second premolar
(wolf tooth is pm1) |
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The
normal incisors in a 5 year old horse. You can see that
the corner incisor is still quite small as it only erupted
around 6 months earlier. |
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A
weanling with a quite severe overjet. It is called a Parrot
Mouth. In this case it prevents the lower jaw from normal
growth and the condition won't improve, and it is almost
certain that these horses will develop severe hooks in the
top front molar and ramps in the lower back jaw because
of misalignment, already seen in the baby teeth. |
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Abnormal
incisor wear due to damaged on missing incisor. |
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Damaged
incisor crown |
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Abnormal
wear of the incisors due to cribbing in this case. |
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A
solid hook in the upper first cheek tooth. A hook like this
will prevent the lower jaw to slide forwards, and you can
get a horse with difficulties to work, difficulties to chew,
pain in the jaw joint and in bad cases it can pierce through
the gum in the opposite jaw. |
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The
hook in the above photo removed. |
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This
is what we call a shear mouth. In addition to the hook in
this horse, the molars are worn in a very steep angle and
can prevent the horse from sideways movement of the jaw.
|
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A
skull with a step mouth. Often caused by a missing molar.
Can be quite serious like in this case, where the top tooth
digs down and into the lower jaw and causes pain, restricted
movement and infected wounds. |
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A
skull from a wave mouth horse |
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A
draining abscess from the lower jaw due to root infection
of one of the premolars (most common in the pm4). |
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One
sided nasal discharge due to sinus infection secondary to
infected upper molar. See photo further down how long the
reserve crown is in the young horse and keep in mind that
the maxillary sinus is just beside it. |
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Bumps
on the mandible (lower jaw) due to erupting teeth on 4 year
old horse. Perfectly normal, but should be normal temperature
and pain free. |
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X-ray
of a lower jaw showing molars. The little piece on the top
of the pm4 (3rd tooth from the right) is a milk tooth cap
waiting to fall out. These can some times cause problems
if stuck, and can lead to root abscesses a couple of years
later if not seen to and removed if the horse can't gt rid
of it on its own. |
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Milk
tooth caps. |
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Lots
of milk tooth caps. Note also that some of them have spikes
sticking out from underneath, these are called root slivers
and they can also cause problems if they dont shed with
the milk tooth as they are supposed to, but stays in the
gum. |
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A
wolf tooth as we usually see them in the mouth. Not all
horses get them, and not all horses get all 4. The most
common is to get the ones in the upper jaw, but they can
also be missing or they can be "blind" lying under
the gums like a little bump. Some cause problems, some don't,
but they are usually removed to make it easier for the horse
to acept the bit. |
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Two
wolf teeth and a quarter coin. The shape and size of the
wolf teeth vary a lot. Some might have a big crown and a
small root, some have small crowns and really long roots,
some are small altogether and some are big. |
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Bitting
injury to tongue |
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Bitting
injury to commisure of the lip. |
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Manure
with partly undigested feed particles. You can see straw
and whole grain, an indication that the horse has trouble
chewing its food properly. |
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Putting
a mouth speculum on a horse before examination and treatment.
|
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A
huge tartar ball on the canine teeth. Very common in ageing
geldings and stallions (mares seldom have canine teeth).
These should be removed before they get to this size as
it causes disease underneath. See below photo. |
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Same
horse after removal of the tartar. Note the wound and infection
that was hiding underneath and that surely must have been
bothering this horse. |
