4/29/2023 0 Comments Wolf eel teethToo much dental shaping can lead to dental problems down the road, but minor adjustments may help a young horse in training. These teeth can have sharp edges that will also either interfere with a comfortable seating of the bit or irritate the cheek from noseband or hackamore pressure. Sometimes, veterinarians will follow up wolf teeth removal with floating any rough edges on the upper and lower second premolars. Most horses heal quickly and without incident. Postoperative care for wolf teeth may range from nothing for teeth with very shallow roots in young horses to daily lavage (flushing) to keep food from settling into the healing wound site for a week or so for teeth with deeper roots. Post operative care of equine wolf tooth extraction The roots can develop and become attached to the underlying bone. Blind wolf teeth that are left in place can be more difficult to remove in an adult horse. Sedation and a local nerve block will again be necessary to safely remove these teeth. Serious complications from the removal of wolf teeth are very unlikely.įor blind or unerupted wolf teeth, your veterinarian may take radiographs (x-rays) of the jaw to determine the extent of the roots. If a broken root protrudes above the gum, it will cause pain and require immediate removal. Broken roots may simply dissolve in place or they may work their way to the surface and need removal in the future. Your veterinarian will try not to break any roots off of the teeth. With shallow roots, wolf teeth can be loosened up around the edges of the tooth, breaking or stretching the periodontal ligament, and then lifted out. In general, however, a fairly strong ligament holds the wolf teeth in place. In fact, on occasion they may fall out on their own. Luckily, wolf teeth tend to have shallow roots. Your horse will require some sedation and a nerve block at the root of any teeth to be removed. Removing wolf teeth is definitely a job for your veterinarian. Young horses should receive frequent dental checks to detect any malocclusions, to remove any "caps" leftover from baby or deciduous teeth, and to pull any wolf teeth. Most horse owners and veterinarians plan to remove any wolf teeth at about a year of age. Wolf teeth tend to be pointed, so they can cause some discomfort. Any pressure on the horse's cheeks is capable of rubbing on these teeth. Wolf teeth can cause a young horse to fight the bit or even the pressure of a hackamore. For this reason alone, they may need to be removed. Wolf teeth are on the bars of the mouth and where the bit may settle. You don't want your horse to associate any discomfort or pain in his mouth with being worked. It makes sense to remove these potentially troublesome teeth before you attempt any serious work with your young horse. Since wolf teeth do not serve any good purpose, removing them makes good sense. A few horses never have a problem with their wolf teeth, but many horses do. Rarely, wolf teeth may show up as late as two to three years of age, but most yearlings obviously either have them or not. If your horse is going to have wolf teeth, they will usually erupt right about five to six months of age. There are no "baby tooth" or deciduous versions of wolf teeth. Mares may be slighlty more likely to have wolf teeth (as opposed to canine teeth) than geldings or stallions. Wolf teeth appear in about 13 to 32 percent of all horses. Some horsemen feel these "blind" teeth are actually worse than the erupted wolf teeth. Called "blind" wolf teeth, these can cause problems as well. Sometimes there are wolf teeth present that don't break through the gums. Rarely, a horse will have double wolf teeth. Standardbreds, as a breed, are more likely to also have wolf teeth on the lower jaw. Generally, a horse with wolf teeth will have just two - both located on the upper jaw. An individual horse may have none, one, two, or four wolf teeth. They show up right in front of the second premolars. Wolf teeth are considered to be vestigial premolars. Wolf teeth fit into the brachydont category along with canine teeth in horses. Brachydont teeth erupt all at once and are done growing. The other class of teeth is called brachydont. Teeth in this category include the incisors, premolars (except wolf teeth), and molars. These teeth erupt gradually throughout the horse's lifetime. Most horse teeth are classified as hypsodont teeth. While "wolf teeth" sound like something out of an equine vampire movie, these small teeth can cause big hassles for horse owners and horses alike. Malcolm Morley MRCVS What are wolf teeth? A small wolf tooth set close to the 2nd premolar on the palatal aspect in a horse.
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