Aging Horses By Their Teeth By View – Open Mouth View

Note the following:

• In the open view, note the wear of the labial gum line that is being moved further down the tooth. I believe this is caused by the movement of the tongue over time.

This is a long process if you are going through the whole set. The idea is to notice all the differences and variability seen within each age. As the age becomes greater, notice the increased variability. Also note that in some horses, the left and right sides are different yielding a different age. This is caused by the horse’s tongue movement, jaw movement or both.

2 year olds – all deciduous teeth. NOTE 1 horse has the central permanent incisors (1/2/3/401) already.

3 year olds – Central lower permanent incisors (3/401). NOTE 1 horse has lost the lower middle deciduous incisor (82 – blood) which has displaced the permanent 402 out of alignment.

4 year olds – Central and middle incisors are permanent (3/401 and 3/402).  3 horses have their lower corner incisors erupting. 1 horse has a central incisor cap displaced towards the lip at 401.  NOTE the formations of an indentation on the occlusal surface on sever lower middle and central incisors – these are called “cups.”

5 year olds – “Full mouth at 5.”  However it is common for 5 year olds to still have deciduous corner incisors.  The cups are clearly seen on some teeth and not in others.

6 year olds – the cups should disappear on the central lower incisors at 6 years.

7 year olds – the cups should disappear on the central and middle lower incisors at 7 years.

8 year olds – the cups should disappear on all the  lower incisors at 8 years. NOTE delayed shedding of deciduous teeth can cause misalignment of the teeth but will self correct over time.

9 year olds – all cups should be gone by 9 years but as you can see, 3 horses still have cups.

10 year olds – the cross section shape of the teeth should have changed from an oval (see the younger ages) to triangular in shape by 10 years.  Over time these will change again to a more round shape.

11 year olds – the “dental star’ is often hard to see but in these 11 year olds, the black dot on the occlusal surface can be seen.  The dental stars are caudal (away from the lip side) to the area where the cup was. 3 horses here have the remnants of the cups on the lip side of the teeth while the dental star is just next to them further away from the lip.

12 year olds – dental stars and cups are variably seen.  The cross sectional shape moves towards being round.

13 year olds – dental stars and cups are variably seen.  The cross sectional shape moves towards being round.

14 year olds – dental stars and cups are variably seen.  The cross sectional shape moves towards being round.

15 year olds – dental stars and cups are variably seen.  The cross sectional shape moves towards being round.

16 year olds – dental stars and cups are variably seen.  The cross sectional shape moves towards being round.

17 year olds – dental stars and cups are variably seen.  The cross sectional shape moves towards being round.

18 year olds – Mild signs of EOTRH are being seen (gum line hypertrophy of incisors and canines, gum recession).

19 year olds – Mild signs of EOTRH are being seen (gum line hypertrophy and canines, gum recession).

20 year olds – Mild signs of EOTRH are being seen (gum line hypertrophy and canines, gum recession).

21 year olds – Mild signs of EOTRH are being seen (gum line hypertrophy and canines, gum recession).

22 year olds – Mild signs of EOTRH are being seen (gum line hypertrophy and canines, gum recession).

23 year olds – Mild signs of EOTRH are being seen (gum line hypertrophy and canines, gum recession). NOTE 1 horse has lost all of the lower incisors from EOTRH (2 remnants remain) and another horse has a fractured lower left corner incisor (304).

24 year olds – Mild signs of EOTRH are being seen (gum line hypertrophy and canines, gum recession).

25 year olds – Mild signs of EOTRH are being seen (gum line hypertrophy and canines, gum recession).

26 year olds – Mild signs of EOTRH are being seen (gum line hypertrophy and canines, gum recession).

27 year olds – Mild signs of EOTRH are being seen (gum line hypertrophy and canines, gum recession).

28 year olds – Mild signs of EOTRH are being seen (gum line hypertrophy and canines, gum recession).

29 and 30+ year olds – Signs of EOTRH are being seen (gum line hypertrophy and canines, gum recession, decay, fractured teeth, abscent teeth, red and inflammed gums).