There may be no branch of equine veterinary medicine that is advancing as quickly as equine dentistry. As recently as a decade ago, it was still considered adequate to feel along the sides of a horse’s first upper cheek teeth and decide, based on sharpness alone, whether that horse needed a “float.” If treatment was deemed necessary, it consisted of a speedy rasping along the outsides of the horse’s upper cheek teeth as far back as the float would reach while holding the horse’s tongue still with a free hand. That tongue-hold probably served as restraint, too! We’ve come a long way!

More and more equine practitioners are upgrading their dentistry skills and knowledge of equine dental pathology and treatment options through instructional courses and one-on-one training opportunities available across the country and around the world. This is an encouraging trend in the veterinary profession because it means horses will be living longer, more comfortable lives.

It is common these days for horses to live into their 30s and beyond. Their teeth, however, were really only meant to last them into their 20s under optimum conditions. Unfortunately, the majority of our domestic horses do not live under those optimum natural conditions in which they evolved. Everything we, as equine veterinarians, can do to prevent the premature attrition of the horse’s teeth will stand them in better stead to live better, and longer.

For instance, most major malocclusions (bite misalignments) start as small discrepancies when horses are young, often when permanent teeth are just erupting between the ages of 2 1/2 and five years. Small problems recognized and corrected at this age never turn into the large problems we currently see in the older horse population. A veterinarian well trained in equine dentistry has the skills to prevent most, if not all, major dental problems that have previously been accepted as an inevitable part of equine aging