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  Discussion on Concave scrunching of upper teeth
Author Message
Member:
Quatro

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 26, 2005 - 11:26 pm:

Hi Dr. O, I just had Cody looked at by an equine dentist. They sedated him, put the speculum thingy, it looks like a medieval torture tool, in his mouth. Then 3 different people looked in his mouth and said "Oh My God!" After sufficiently freaking me out, I looked in his mouth and said "Oh My God!" His upper teeth were scrunched together and instead of being flat and straight, they were actually concaved into his head. I have had his teeth floated by out local vets every year since I have owned him. Last time he had them floated is when he got the injection site infection from a careless vet, went to another vet for a stay, she said he was missing a tooth, and the other one next to it was rotten, so would need to be removed. To make a lonnnnng story short. He is not missing teeth, they are just a mess. Basically the vet said that they would grind them off, cut his front teeth, to give him a better alignment, but at 15 he did not have many years of eruption left to totally fix the bite. What would cause this? Is it poorly done floating over time, or genetic problem. We always thought he was missing a tooth, as he would fill his cheek, like a hamster, where he was "missing a tooth". He also informed me that his stifles are shot, beyond repair, just need to find a supplement to help relieve the pain, and curb the degenerating. I read the article, and will try to find what is best to help my poor guy. I try to be a good horse mom, but it seems that we have inadequate vet care, and it takes years to find someone with answers! Anyone that has any suggestions for joint help products that have worked for them, let me know.
Thanks
suz
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 - 9:06 am:

What is sounds like you are describing is wave mouth Susan and a fairly common finding in older horses. I would be cautious about a lot of grinding on older mouths if it currently is functional. Doing several small corrections is better than trying to fix this all at once. Any specific recommendation would require an examination. Wave mouth is not caused by improper floating but proper floating can ameliorate its formation. If you have one vet saying things don't look so bad and another saying "oh my God" it is uncertain who is closer to the truth.

And his stifles are shot(?), on what does he base this finding: is the horse chronically lame in both back legs?
DrO
Member:
Quatro

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 - 12:00 pm:

Unfortunately, it is too late if they did too much. What it looked like to me is that he had had a tennis ball in his mouth and the other teeth grew around it. More of a concave, rounding,not wavy, but like the teeth were sucking back up into his head. He was having trouble, the other vets never said he looked good, they just said he had a tooth missing, not true, also a rotten tooth, not true. This is the only vet that I saw do an examination with the speculum opening his mouth completely. He has been storing food in his cheek for some time. He had learned to compensate, by rubbing his face to empty the pouch of food. He also did a lot of yawning to move food around. He also just recently choked, in May. I have been trying to find an dental specialist to go to, rather than have the vets around here repeat what they have been doing. The comments of the "certified equine Dentist" (supposedly this veterinarian has started a few dental schools for equines in the county?) were "Floated up, bitseats, canines, burred 364/11 ramps, 102/6 hooks, 4/8-9-10 protuberants, cut incisor reduction. does this explain anything to you?
Cody is not lame on his back legs, but he trots really weird, seems to be in pain and anxious when ridden. He said he can not bend his knee in a normal uplift, so he extends a straight leg out when he moves in short strides. He had swelling in his joints. 6 years ago another vet did a surgery cutting the ligaments on both legs, said they were catching. He did improve then an did not limp anymore. He said basically he is arthritic. The guy at the barn, a trainer, swore by a product called hyalun sp? The vet did not suggest a specific product, only said to get him on joint supplements with gloucosamine/conDrOitun.
Member:
Quatro

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005 - 3:29 pm:

This vet and his daughter is the dental person have an academy in Idaho, the web address is equinedentalacademy.com. Lots of interesting case studies, I tried to find one that looks like cody's mouth, it was not exactly like anyones, kind of the wave, It is the Academy of Equine Dentistry, interesting pictures, some of those poor horses, it makes me realize cody does not have it that bad! Yikes
suz
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jul 28, 2005 - 6:21 pm:

Personally I think bitseats are nonsense but the rest seems pretty straight forward except the description protuberants(?). Perhaps these are teeth that have grown overly long. I guess the proof will be in the pudding, does the horse no longer quid? For more on the joint supplements see, Equine Medications and Nutriceuticals » Anti-inflammatories (NSAID's, Steroids, Arthritis Rx) » The Joint Protective Treatments.
DrO
Member:
Quatro

Posted on Thursday, Jul 28, 2005 - 10:45 pm:

I have been watching Cody for any hampster cheeks, so far, after grazing and eating, his cheeks look like normal horse cheeks. He is eating normal now. The first day, he seemed to have trouble chewing the hay. I have been giving him wet senior feed, beet pulp,rolled oats that my other old guy is on, just in case he is sore. We will go back to his oats tomorrow, that will be the true test.
We rode yesterday, and I rubbed him with some linament on the stifles, and gave him a little bute before riding. He was well behaved, for me anyway. We don't ride often enough, so I hope that the bute won't hurt if it is only occasionally. Will read up on the supplements and make a choice.
thanks There are soooooo many products out there!
suz
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