Special Dental Concerns of the Geriatric Horse 3 Rivers Veterinary Symposium, November 4, 2017

The age at which an animal is classified as geriatric can be based on chronological, physiologic or functional age. Physiological age differs between horses and depends on their use, genetic and environmental factors. Geriatric horses and ponies make up an increasing percentage of the equine population and there is some evidence the more aged horses are being presented for veterinary treatment. (Brosnahan and Paradis 2003). A UK study showed horse >15 years represented 29% of the equine population (Ireland, Clegg et al. 2011). The prevalence of disease conditions has also been reported to increase with age and a high prevalence of disease in apparently healthy horses has been identified at veterinary examination (Chandler and Meller 2001). At least one dental abnormality was detected in 95.4% of horse over 15 years, with a large proportion of horses having generalized dental abnormalities (Ireland et al. 2012). In this study only 25% of horses with dental abnormalities on examination were reported by the owner to have a dental problem which supports previous USA studies showing dental disease in geriatric horses was almost always diagnosed during veterinary evaluation of another health problem for which the horse was being seen (Brosnahan and Paradis 2003). Geriatric horses have a higher incidence of generalized health issues such as; pituitary dysfunction, laminitis, arthritis, gastrointestinal disease, heart murmurs, respiratory disease and tumors. This text will review anatomic changes and some of the more common dental pathology seen in older horses.