Why We Float Teeth

Allie Lait Lait Equine Services

Prior to the industrial revolution, we depended on horses in our day to day living so their health care was of utmost importance. As machinery began to replace the need for horse power, horses were generally kept for recreational purposes and the emphasis put on health care was seen as less of a necessity and more of an extra expense. In the present day, competition in a wide variety of equine disciplines has revived our attention toward the horses health and well being. Equine dentistry is an important part of our horses maintenance program that plays a role in their health as well as their performance. In order to grasp the importance of equine dentistry, we must first have a general understanding of how the horses mouth works. Horses were designed to self-sufficiently maintain oral health and balance. By the age of five, a horse has a full set of permanent teeth consisting of six upper and lower incisors and twelve upper and lower molars (six on each side). The length of tooth that is visible in the mouth is considerably shorter than the length of reserve crown hidden below the gum line. The tooth consists of cementum, dentin and enamel, just like ours, but they differ in composition. Rather than being coated in enamel, horses teeth have a band of enamel that winds back and forth across the width of the molar and runs the entire length of the tooth. The enamel is extremely hard and is surrounded by the much softer cementum and dentin. As the horse chews, the teeth are gradually worn away and the reserve crown constantly erupts to maintain the clinical crown height, or portion of tooth visible within the mouth. This process continues the course of horses life until only a short root remains. A horse will only chew on one side of its mouth at a time. The jaw moves in a circular motion, dropping down, to the side, upward, and back to center. The circular chewing pattern causes the molars to wear at an angle ranging between ten and eighteen degrees. As the jaw rotates in a clockwise direction, the tongue rotates in a counter-clockwise direction, and vice versa. This causes the hay or grass to become twisted like a rope as it moves along the row of molars and is ground finer as it moves to the back of the mouth. The tongue and cheeks continually push the feed along the chewing surface of the molars and we refer to this process as axial flow. The jaw is attached to the skull at the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ. The TMJ is unique because it not only allows for vertical and lateral movement but also facilitates an anterior and posterior (forward/backward) movement of the jaw. When a horse lowers its head
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to the ground, the jaw slides forward so the teeth are lined up one over top of the other; when their head raises, the jaw slides rearward so the upper teeth are slightly ahead of the lower teeth. The range of anterior/posterior motion is approximately on quarter to half of an inch and is crucial to maintaining balance in a horses mouth. It is this particular movement that I want to focus on regarding the horses health and performance. In a natural environment a horse will spend sixteen to twenty hours a day grazing. They spend the majority of their time with their head lowered to the ground, constantly chewing. They are continually using their incisors to nip the grass and using the molars to grind it up so all the teeth are receiving an equal amount of wear from the front to the back of mouth. Unfortunately there are very few horses that have access to a life time of pasture. We have altered their environment and therefore altered their ability to maintain a balanced mouth. This leads us to the need for regular dental floating. Whether it be due to weather conditions, showing and riding schedules or simply a lack of pasture space, most horses in Alberta spend a portion of the year, (if not the entire year) without access to pasture grazing. It is common practice to keep horses in a paddock or stall and feed them hay two to four times a day. In this environment we have limited the time they spend with their head lowered from sixteen-twenty hours per day to four-eight hours per day. If we feed them off the ground in a feeder, then we completely eliminate the time they spend with their head lowered. In this case the horse is chewing with the upper and lower teeth out of alignment. The caudal (rear) portion of the last lower molar and the rostral (front) portion of the first upper molar lack any wear so a sharp point will form. With time the point will only grow larger. This large point is referred to as a hook. It is also typical to see an increase in the height of the third lower molar which causes excessive wear and reduction of the length of its opposing upper molar. The result is a wave like paradigm of the molar table that becomes accentuated if it is not corrected. Once a hook and/or wave forms, the anterior movement of the jaw is restricted. Even if the horse lowers its head, these malocclusions will prevent the teeth from freely sliding past one another. Restricted grazing not only has a negative effect on the molars, but the incisors as well. When a horse eats hay or grain, it picks its feed up with its lips and the use of the incisors is limited. This results in excessive length of the clinical crown and an increase in the angle at which the upper and lower incisors meet. Excessive length, in addition to a steepened table angle of the incisors, will further restrict the forward movement of jaw. The limited anterior movement has adverse effects on the TMJ as well, causing excessive pressure on the meniscus and limiting the joints range of motion.

We can now relate the anterior and posterior moveme nt of the jaw to the horses performance under saddle. No matter whether you ride in an english or western discipline,

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optimal performance from a horse does not come without some degree of collection. Head carriage is an integral part of that collection. When we ask a horse to break at the poll, vertically or laterally, the space between the ramus (back of the jaw) and the wing of the atlas (first vertebrae) closes to some extent. In order for a horse to flex at the poll comfortably, their jaw must be able to slide forward to relieve pressure between the ramus and the atlas. When the movement of the jaw is restricted by an imbalance in the molars or the incisors it interferes with the horses ability to maintain flexion at the poll. Without suppleness through the poll and neck, the horse compromises its ability to round the top line and shift its weight to the hind quarters.

We have only covered a few aspects of equine dentistry, but in any case, the purpose for floating a horses teeth is to help him maintain natural oral balance when an unnatural environment does not allow him to do so on his own. Since the teeth normally wear and erupt at a slow, steady rate it is beneficial to the horse to make small corrections to the teeth on a frequent basis. It is a common conception that a horse needs his teeth floated on a yearly basis, but their dental maintenance schedule is really dependent on their ability to graze, or lack thereof. A horse that has very little or no access to grass will benefit form a small amount of floating every four to six months. A horse that is grazing year round may go one to two years with very little change in oral health. The only way to truly monitor the overall condition of your horses teeth is to have a veterinarian or equine dental practitioner open the horses mouth with a speculum to look and feel for abnormalities. It is also important to understand that once the anterior/posterior movement of the jaw is restricted by the formation of a hook, wave, or imbalance of the incisors, simply allowing a horse to graze will not reverse these problems. Grazing is the means by which oral balance is maintained, not corrected. Therefore it is our responsibility to help the horse stay in balance with routine dental work.

February 2014