Lisa Barnes? She is a good one.Horses/Mules have four quadrents of teeth all possesing 11 numbered teeth. 1-3 are incisors 4 is the canine 5 the wolf tooth, 6-8 the premolars, 9-11 the molars. Horses chew down out up and in, only one side of the cheek teeth(Molars,premolars) will engage at a time. The actual grinding occurs as the jaw moves from outword towards center. The sharp points on the sides are indications of poor occlusion(The front teeth, incisors) are too long. Too long of incisore seperate the jaw from the skull (The incisors are in contact in a horse not like ours where the lowers set inside the uppers) this jaw seperation causes hypereruption of the cheek teeth in the oral cavity and in essence too much tooth in the mouth. The points are sharp because they are not being used to grind.The points are the left over cingula or grooves and undulations on the side of the teeth, I believe they provide more surface area for the periodontal ligament to attach the tooth below the gum to the alveolus.(Socket in the skull) These points can be self perpetuating because as the jaw drops to chew the opposite side of teeth will engage the cheek and cause pain preventing the horse fom full excurding its grinding stroke. Less of the cheek teeth table is used to chew and more of a sharp edged with the points are formed. A properly balanced saddle horse or mule should have very few sharp points, full caudal rostral movement of the mandible (Jaw) as the head is lowered or raised.(This will prevent TMJ pain that is often exhibited with head shaking or rooting the reins when ridden) Similar clinical crown height and angle of cheek teeth, a incisor angle of about 5 to 12 degrees, and nicely dressed bit seats on the # 6 premolars. I also prefer to have the corner incisors reduced out of occlusion at the corners. Young equidaes will need more frequent dental work (They will be shedding cheek teeth until 3.5 yrs and incisors until 4.5) as will timed event performance animals. The most peskiest thing to balance in my opinion is lower 8 waves. But protuberant upper 10,s and lower 11 ramps are the most common malady, except for loss of molar occlusion by overlong too steep incisors. There are exceptional equines, but most require a minimum of yearly dental visits are required to obtain the level of equine dental balance I am speaking of.
Last edited by Angus1895; 07/19/14.
