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Discussion on Loose and chipped teeth in a 2 year old
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Member:
cpacer
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Posted on Sunday, Dec 2, 2007 - 9:43 am:
My young horse has 3 loose teeth in the front -- one is kind of hanging in there. Are these baby teeth that are supposed to fall out?
My vet is out of town for another 4-days! How serious is this? Should I get another vet over to check it out?
I took a picture. The one on the bottom left is the REALLY loose one. Others look like they might heal although they're cracked down into the gums.
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Sunday, Dec 2, 2007 - 10:22 am:
You didn't say how old your horse is, only that it's young. From the looks of it's mouth, however, imo she's loosing her baby teeth. If you do a search of the articles posted, I think you'll find an article with diagrams that shows the average ages that primary teeth are lost.
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Sunday, Dec 2, 2007 - 10:25 am:
Look under "routine care" then "aging horses and equines by their teeth"
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Member:
cpacer
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Posted on Sunday, Dec 2, 2007 - 1:18 pm:
Thanks Sara, the more I think about it you're probably right. I didn't know they did that and was just a little worried when I saw them--figured he'd gotten into trouble with something.
He's 2 by the way, and that brown stuff is mud. The tooth I thought was cracked into the gums is probably a tooth growing in? They sure look ugly...
If that's all it is then I'm a little embarrassed!
(but glad)
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Sunday, Dec 2, 2007 - 3:28 pm:
cp, his top left front looks like he chipped it, although it does look like a primary tooth.
Don't be embarrassed. I've had a lot of foals and therefore young horses. I've also had to call the vet out on a Sunday a.m. because a colt half way pulled out his front tooth (I don't know how), and another time a filly bit the electric fence, pulled back and caught the wire between her two front teeth and tore one out and loosened the other. Young horses are like little kids!
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Member:
cpacer
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Posted on Monday, Dec 3, 2007 - 3:51 pm:
happened to have this picture of his teeth from a couple months ago -- can see why I was worried, they look like they belong to another horse! Should I pull that loose one out? Is it normal to have cuts on the gums where the other ones are coming in?
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Monday, Dec 3, 2007 - 5:36 pm:
You might want Dr.O to add his advice here as I am only going from my experience with my horses and my experience working in a dental office and as a dental surgical nurse for quite a few years.
Usually the loose teeth will just fall out,or more correctly, they are pushed out by the new teeth coming in. But once in a while they do need to be pulled. If it is hanging by a thread, or if you can see the new tooth coming in and the old tooth is still hanging in place, then I'd pull it. Normally, you do see a little redness or soreness around a new tooth, but not a cut. There is often kind of a slit in the gum where you can see the new tooth pushing up. When you are talking about "a cut" are you talking about the round red spot in front of his bottom left front tooth? If so, that looks to me like he just bumped or rubbed it or maybe even got a splinter in it from chewing on things he shouldn't chew on.
Does he chew on stuff a lot? Chewing on hard objects like metal rails can damage the teeth causing excessive wear and chipping, so if he chews a lot you might want to try and stop it before he gets his permanent teeth in. Or maybe teach him something softer to chew on. I've used tires, jolly balls, highway cones, a pieces of pine. Seems like there was an article on this subject once. Maybe you can find it if you are interested.
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Member:
cpacer
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Posted on Monday, Dec 3, 2007 - 6:19 pm:
Oh is that all? Sounds like you know a thing or two about teeth. I do hope DrO weighs in too though!
Despite what the last picture may imply, he's not a cribber or anything like that. He does put a lot of things in his mouth, but he has many trees and other natural things to chew on as well as a jolly ball, cones, and some other horse toys--he's a typical mischievous boy--turned my back for a few minutes one time and found his front half in the tack room with the end of a live power cord in his mouth!
To answer your question, the 2 damaged looking teeth do have little cuts in front of them which is why I initially thought they were broken.
Anyway, I appreciate the feedback you have given me!
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Tuesday, Dec 4, 2007 - 8:27 am:
I have learned that knowing about human teeth, deseases, etc. doesn't always help with equine problems. I tend to equate human and horse and sometimes that a problem!
And, aren't colts just all kinds of fun! They can get into so much trouble in such a short amount of time! I'm glad I raised boys of my own; I think it helped me with the colts.....or maybe it was the other way around! I love them to death, but when they are young you can't trust them for a minute. As one of my boys said when he was little; "I don't mean to be bad, it just happens."
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Tuesday, Dec 4, 2007 - 5:42 pm:
cp,
Your mouth in the first image looks absolutely normal for the permanent teeth coming in. Don't worry they will all straighten out in time.
DrO
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Member:
cpacer
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Posted on Wednesday, Dec 5, 2007 - 6:53 am:
That's a cute story Sara--can just imagine the innocence in which it was said!
Thank you DrO for confirming it's normal!
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