Youngsters Teeth

[frozzy]

My dentist has just visited to check and do oldies/youngsters teeth. One rising three year old has quite sustantial gaps between her teeth. This is giving her a bit of a problem with hay/haylage as it is packing between her teeth but she is not quidding. He advises a soft diet until we see how this is going to pan out with her adult teeth. He thinks that the gaps may not completely close and could eventually lead to gum disease. Anyone any experience of this.?

 

[frozzy]

Nobody?
Thought with the wider audience on this forum someone would have experienced it. Have read about it on a few sites and it seems the Dick Vet have done some work on it. Will get my vet to refer her.

 

[Spit That Out]

Try soaking her hay to make it softer and feed something like a hay replacer chaff to make sure she's getting fibre.
However if shes going to get food stuck in the gaps then i don't see how making the food soft is going to stop the food from getting in the gaps?
My dentist refuses to do any dental work on a horse under 3 and a half unless and emergency but does recommend he comes out twice if not 3 times a year to check on their development so might be worth getting him out in a few months the check on her.
There are prob more experienced people on here that will help so this is just a BUMP really, or try posting in the vet section.

 

[quirky]

I know of 2 horses with this problem and it causes both of them to be really sore in the mouth. The food gets impacted between the teeth and causes gum swelling and sometimes infection.

One of them, who was 8 when my friend bought him, goes to the vet every 3 months to have his teeth washed out with a water jet.
The other horse was younger 4/5 and they had trouble keeping weight on her in winter, when she found the long hay/haylage difficult to eat. She was fine if on grass but winter turnout round here was limited. She ended up giving her to a friend who lives down south so she could have all year turnout.

 

[frozzy]

Should have said filly was only checked, didnt do anything. She was a surviving twin and lost a bit of weight at this time last year so I was on alert this year for any changes to her weight. She made up the lost weight over the summer and was looking ok.

 

[figgy]

Hi,
I am going though the same thing with my 3 year old but he was quidding and couldnt eat hay, i had dentist out twice in a week in the end i took him to vets had camera put in his mouth and he has graps between most of his teeth and they said they dont really see this, so horse was put on pain killers to eat, this was in nov 2010 and only now he has come off pain killers and eating ok , vet said his back molars should push the teeth closer when they grow if not he will have to go to newmarket and have graps made wider so food dont get traped. i hope this has helped .

xxxx

 

[JanetGeorge]

One rising three year old has quite sustantial gaps between her teeth. This is giving her a bit of a problem with hay/haylage as it is packing between her teeth but she is not quidding. ?

Diastema in youngsters is not uncommon. There are several causes and the most common is retained caps (a couple of the baby teeth are 'stuck' to the emerging permanent tooth - making the jaw unlevel and pushing the permanent teeth out of place.) Did vet say anything about caps??

Of course the caps may have fallen off by now - although it's quite early - we usually see retained caps in 3 year olds.

It's important that you clean the gaps - a large (60 ml) syringe filled with warm 'normal saline' (teaspoon of salt dissolved in a pint of warm water) can be used to flush rubbish out! It needs to be done at LEAST a couple of times a week or you will get a gum infection as the retained food rots!

If you can keep the gaps cleaned out and the teeth regularly floated, then there is a good chance the gaps will close up as the teeth continue to emerge. If they don't - and I'd give them 6-12 months depending on how horse holds condition, etc., then the gaps CAN be widened - but this tends to be making the best of a bad job!

 

[Cedars]

No help at all but how interesting! I hope you found help for your lass. xx

 

[frozzy]

Thanks folks for your help.
I had already decided to do the "flushing" as I had a two year old with a mouth injury several years ago who had to have it done daily. Its amazing how quickly they accept it as routine.