Tell-tale signs
Dental problems can cause pain and discomfort to horses, which horses exhibit in a number of ways
- Head throwing problems while riding
- Head tilting while eating or riding
- Lack of condition, when all other good maintenance programs are in place
- Longer than normal particles in the feces
- Bleeding from the mouth
- Bad Breath from the mouth or nostrils
- Inability to shift lower jaw from side to side
- Teeth sensitive to the touch when palpating from the outer cheek area
- Bolting of grain
- Quidding
- Eating hay before grain
- Change in drinking habits
- Hard to bit
- Change in performance from normal
- Poor performance
- Dribbling of feed
- Weight loss
- Excessive salivation or drooling
- Troubled expression
- Irregular movement of mandible
- Bumps or enlargements of the jaw or face
- Fistulous discharge from the jaw or face
- Discharge from the eye or nose
- Sores of the lips, gums, palate
- Abnormal carriage of the tongue
- Punctures and lacerations of the tongue and cheeks
- Bad general attitude
- Lug in or out
- Rearing
- Sharp points on rostral apex of first molars
- Failure to perform with most types of equipment
- Choking