Your horse’s teeth are the first part of its digestive tract and can therefore play a very important role in minimizing problems such as colic. 

Horses have two types of teeth – incisors and cheek teeth.  The incisors are for grasping and the cheek teeth (premolars and molars) are for grinding the meal before swallowing.

There are certain age specific dental issues that should be kept in mind when considering your horse’s teeth.  Problems can arise in young horses as some of the deciduous teeth fail to fall out and become “retained.”  These retained teeth create a painful, irregular grinding surface, and usually require removal. As an owner, you may see a 2 to 3 year old horse that is dropping feed from its mouth, chewing while holding its head in an unusual position or passing manure with poorly chewed feed in it.  Impaction colic can be one of the consequences of a horse that cannot grind adequately.

Young horses also have teeth that are erupting quickly.  This causes them to develop sharp points on the upper outer and lower inner margins of the teeth.  Because the teeth need to grind in a side-to-side motion, the sharp points not only limit the grind, but can also cause sores along the cheeks making chewing painful.  Horses up to 8 or 9 years of age should have dental exams performed twice a year.  Abnormal alignment of the incisors can also limit the normal grind.  Thus to maintain a normal grinding surface, your veterinarian/dentist has to remove the sharp points and realign the incisors to allow an adequate grinding surface on the cheek teeth and prevent the painful sores.

Horses between the ages of 9 and 20 years usually only need to be floated once yearly to remove sharp points.  However if dental issues exist, more frequent floating may be necessary.

Once horses age into their twenties, the teeth become so worn that they are essentially nonfunctional.  This, along with loss of teeth due to injury or infection can cause older horses to no longer be able to grind adequately.  This can predispose them to impaction colic.  At this stage, in addition to removing any sharp, painful points, dietary changes need to be made including switching to complete feed and/or soaking , so that it does not require as much grinding action and helps to allow normal digestion to occur.  Horses older than twenty should have their teeth examined twice a year.

In summary, monitoring your horse’s mouth, teeth and eating habits can minimize many problems that lead to impaction colic.