Dental diseases Flashcards
Diseases/disorders of the incisors
- Retained deciduous teeth
- Fractures/Displacement
- EOTRH
- Parrot/Sow mouth
- Diastemata
Diseases/disorders of the cheek teeth
- Retained Deciduous caps
- Diastema
- Caries
- Loose/Displaced teeth
Retained deciduous teeth (incisors)
- Fairly common
- Usually easy to remove
- Can cause gap between adult incisors
- May require radiographs if can’t distinguish between adult and deciduous tooth
Incisor fractures/displacement (cause, tx)
- Usually following kick or getting tooth caught
- May require extraction
- Often possible to wire back into place and stabilise
- X-rays may be necessary – jaw may also be fractured
- More sloppy food needed initially post-op
EOTRH (definition, signalment, tx)
= Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis
* Older horses
* Causes reabsorption of roots +/-cement deposition, teeth become loose and painful
* Extraction only treatment currently available – very successful
* Often see lumps of plaque/tartar on the lower canines also
* X-ray to look at entirely of tooth and root
* Sloppy diet + grass = good/decent management
– Can use gums to cut strips of grass
– Grass better than hay diet
Parrot/Sow mouth
- Relatively common finding
- Over or under shot jaw
- Incisors don’t normally require treatment unless impinging on soft tissues
- Often have secondary cheek teeth issues
– Upper 6 and lower 11 hooks due to change in jaw position - Correction as foal?
– Can be corrected with surgery
– Can often go against them re sale e.g. TB foals
Diastemata of the incisors
- Relatively common finding
- Gaps develop between teeth usually age related
- Food usually easily picked out
- Can keep clean with old toothbrush
Retained Deciduous caps
- Horses shed a total of 12 deciduous teeth
- between 2.5-4 years old and have a full mouth by age 5
- Fragments more common than whole teeth
- Remove if loose or obviously causing disease
- Food packing common
– Behind the cap
– Between the cap and permanent tooth
– Smell, potential infection
What is the 3y/o bumps?
- when the permanent teeth are coming through they can get bumps soon the lower jaw
- indicates that the permanent teeth are coming through
Diastema of the cheek teeth
- Abnormal gaps between teeth
- Most painful dental condition
- Cheek teeth should be tightly packed to form one grinding unit
- If gaps develop food gets trapped often can’t escape again
- Can cause very painful gum/periodontal disease
- Always check opposing transvers ridges
Diastema tx
- Treatment can be challenging –> management
– Can be managed well with regular picking and flushing, e.g. q3m - Balance mouth (remove sharp points/excessive ridges)
- Flush/pick out food
- Can be really painful
– Explosive reaction possible even from a sedated horse - Pack with putty?
- Widen?
- Remove tooth/teeth?
Caries (cause, types)
- 2 types:
– Peripheral (surrounding edges of teeth)
– Infundibular (centre of upper cheek teeth) - Acidogenic bacteria cause erosion to cement (and enamel/dentine if progress)
Infundibular Caries - which teeth are affected?
- Upper cheek teeth only – unique structure
What are infundibular caries potentially linked to?
- tooth development
What can progression of infundibular caries lead to?
- tooth fracture
– Stage 5 caries: likely to get sagittal fracture right the way through the tooth
