Loose teeth?

[nedzy]

This might make me look completely foolish, but have recently purchased a five year old. Have had teeth checked, but he is sometimes quite unwilling to accept a contact, and the other night, while eating his food, it sounded almost like a tooth might be loose - sounded like he was chewing a stone sort of noise.
Do their teeth fall out around this age to make room for permanent or would they be gone by now, or maybe no teeth fall out and I'm thinking of humans?!

 

[vicijp]

At 5 they should all be through, but I did have a 5yo last year who still had a few caps to come off.
However, have never known one to make the noise you describe, are you sure it couldnt be anything else?

 

[spaniel]

Id get the dentist to have another quick look, if its not a reluctant cap its possible he has a hook or some sort of uneven wear pattern that catches occasionally as he chews????

Or maybe his jaw is misaligned???

Then again it could just have been a particularly crunchy bit of food!

 

[VictoriaEDT]

Hi

The cheek teeth consist of 3 pre molars and 3 molars (known as numbers 6 through to 11). In usual circumstances number 6 cap (baby tooth) is replaced at 2 1/2, number 7 at 3years, number 8 at 3 1/2 number, number 9 at 1 year old, number 10 at 2 years and 11 at 3 years. These new teeth then come into wear from 6 months to 1 year after.

It is not completely unusual to have retained caps which loosen later on. If a tooth is loose enough to make a noise it would fall out very very soon or probably did whilst you heard it the other night, he would have swallowed it!

If your concerned get your EDT to have a look, if you want I can give you a number of a good one in your area (pm me) as I am an EDT as well.

Either way it is important to have regular dental checks every 6 months from birth (to diagnose any congenital/hereditory disorders) to about 7 years as it is important to monitor the change from caps to permenant teeth.

Hope this helps!!!

 

[tiggersdad]

When horses are born or within a week they have three baby check teeth in each arcade making twelve. The 1st permanent tooth "9" erupts at one year behind the baby teeth. The last molar "11" erupts at 3 1/2 to 4 years not at 3 as Victoria states.This might be the problem. The last baby check tooth is the "8" which is replaced at 3 1/2. Retained baby teeth occurs quite often but a routine float will detect and remove these, if they are heard to be loose they usually fall out. Are you sure your horse is five? He should have all his permanent incisors with the corners coming into wear. There is a list of qualified EDTs on http://equinedentistry.org.uk

 

[VictoriaEDT]

[ QUOTE ]


[/ QUOTE ] The 1st permanent tooth "9" erupts at one year behind the baby teeth. The last molar "11" erupts at 3 1/2 to 4 years not at 3 as Victoria states.

I am just going by experience, I have seen many 11s erupt around 3 - 3 1/2 (in wear a year later) and have seen some erupt slightly later. Every horse is an individual!

Tiggersdad is absolutely right - make sure you find a qualified EDT who is fully insured.

Hope you sort your boy out Nedzy!

 

[VictoriaEDT]

sorry posted the quote oddly!

The first para is a quote from tiggersdad and the rest is me.

Nedzy, if you are interested click on this link for more info on eruption times are dental care. It is pretty accurate.

http://drcanning.com/index.php?p=3&ID=410&d=1

 

[tiggersdad]

There is a major problem in that horses are wrongly aged and quite often the owner has been "duped". The most common con is passing a 2 year old as a 5 year old. I do not believe a horse could get its 11,s the most rear at 2 years as there isn't room at the back of the jaw as it hasn't grown enough.There is an excellent web site http://www.equinedentistry.info/ which explains about when teeth erupt under aging.