Teeth Issues

[Lorian]

Does anyone have any info on the below conditions, causes, treatment, aftercare etc. Any info appreciated.

*Diastema - gaps between teeth wheere food/grass gets stuck and infected
*Transverse ridges

Thanks

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Try PM-ing VictoriaEDT hun x

 

[VictoriaEDT]

Sorry only just saw this!

Diastemata (plural) is basically a gap between the teeth that can either be conformational or developmental (occur over time). These gaps can act like a "valve" and plug feed within the cavity causing discomfort, gingivitis and eventually lead to periodontal disease, breaking down the ligaments which anchor the teeth in place. One course of treatment is to refer to a dental specialist vet and have the gaps widended (only vets should do this as it is v intricate work and can easily open pulp cavities - compromising the tooth) to create a channel to allow the feed to pass through and not clog up. If the gaps are less severe then you can get your EDT to visit every 4 months to pull out the impacted feed and wash the area.
They can be really painful - a horse can have a beautifully floated mouth with no points at all but will stop eating because of pain from a diastema.


Transverse Ridges are perfectly normal in young horses and basically consist of ridging on the surface of the teeth, supposedly to increase the surface area of the chewing surface. These tend to disapear after 10 but in some cases then can become very exagerated and need to be reduced in size to prevent a diastema forming in the opposing tooth. Hope this helps!

 

[plod485]

Fixing this in an old horse can be a major job. They may need to use morphine to anaesthetise the horse during the operation. There are different ways of going about it, but there is a risk because they are using powertools of damaging the pulp which could be extremely painful. Afterwards, the horse may not be able to eat normal haylage again ever because if they have diastemata the problem is long stemmed forage gets trapped between the teeth and widening the gaps doesn't really stop this. You will still have to feed the horse entirely on chaff for the rest of his/her life and so if you can afford to spend £3.50 a day on food and give up haylage completely go ahead but it can be pretty scary if you are on a budget and you can't afford to pay for food that your horse needs.