Equine Dental Care
Teeth floating
A horse's teeth continually erupt throughout its life. Every horse wears its teeth differently while grinding its feed. A horse may develop sharp enamel points during this wear process. These points can cause pain and even ulceration of the cheeks and tongue. "Floating" is the process of filing the points of the teeth down. The tools we use are called "floats" which are rasps designed to file teeth. The floating process is only one part of a complete dental examination. We recommend that horse owners have a complete dental examination performed at least once yearly. Some horses need to be examined and/or have their teeth floated more frequently. Timely dentals will help balance your horse's mouth improving health, performance and efficiency.
Symptoms of dental problems
• Head tossing, head tilting or other performance problems
• Bitting problems
• Poll soreness
• TMJ soreness
• Weight loss
• Dropping feed when eating
• Foul odor
• Excessive salivation
• Nasal discharge
• Facial swelling