Horse lost two teeth overnight...you should see the other guy

[TBCollector]

Actually, I have no idea how this happened (words that have been uttered a gazillion times by horse owners since the beginning of time, I am sure)...
Went out to feed kids this morning...all were happy to dive into their grain and hay. Taking off blankets, noticed a tiny spot of blood on the gray horse's leg. He had no cut, so I did an exam from head to toe. Nothing. Looked in his mouth, and at the gumline saw blood and one missing front tooth. The other one was hanging by a shred of skin, and the one next to that was loose. Vet came and pulled the hanging one...we also saw that he had a flap of skin hanging from the roof of his mouth. We're hoping the loose tooth isn't dead, and once the trauma settles down he'll keep it. He's getting bute, SMZs, and a compound ointment to apply in his mouth to promote healing and numb the area.
Have any of you had a horse lose front teeth? I figure he's going to have to relearn the grazing thing a bit (kind of a drag for a 22-year-old) but will he be able to essentially eat the way he did before?
Any suggestions for aftercare would be much appreciated. He's going to get mashes for a few days. Oddly, he's till able to eat hay just fine...the grain seems a little problematic.

[FindersKeepers]

Good grief! I swear when they hit 20, they start to get creative...

Hay shouldn't be a problem, as they chew that in the back molars anyway. The front teeth are for grabbing and tearing.

No ideas on how he did it or how to help... poor boy! I'm sure other COTHers will have more to share.

Hoping for a good recovery though, and that he gets to keep the loose tooth!

[ThoroughbredFancy]

I thought I had a thread about my TB gelding losing his front teeth but I can't seem to find it. I don't have time to go into detail but my guy is missing two and a half front teeth on his left side.

He grazes, eats hay, grain and plays just fine. You wouldn't even know he was missing them unless I showed you his gum line. He didn't seem to have any trouble adapted to being a toothless hillbilly.

[SkipHiLad4me]

Poor guy!! :eek: I imagine there was an interesting story attached to that ordeal.

My gelding is 20 and he only has half of his top two front teeth. He's a hellion in the pasture and I imagine he's had some well placed and well deserved kicks over the years. He doesn't have any trouble eating his feed or hay but we've noticed that when the grass gets shorter, he doesn't keep his weight as well as the other horses do when they're on mostly pasture since he can't bite off the grass as well. We end up having to up his hay so he won't drop weight. But otherwise, he gets along fine. We make a point to joke his redneck teeth every chance we get :winkgrin:

[BuddyRoo]

My mom's horse did as a 3YO. Got kicked in the teeth. Grazed just fine w/ this lips/tongue. :)

[drawstraws]

My 14 year old gelding lost most of his upper front incisors as a coming three year old when he decided he didn't want to get in the trailer to go home from the trainer's and flipped himself over. He also managed to drop his upper palate (had to stitch it back up to the roof of his mouth through his upper gums - gross!) and dislocate his jaw. He literally has only had two or three teeth on top in the front since then and has had NO problems whatsoever, although he looks like a hillbilly. He grazes with no problem and you can tell he has obviously never missed a meal by looking at him. I've always been diligent about making sure the vet checks his teeth twice a year, floating as necessary and this fall had a dentist look at him just to make sure we weren't missing anything. The first words out of his mouth were, "Oh, wow.", plus he took some pictures for his records and to pass around to his vet friends. Not something you want to hear out of a vet's mouth usually, but my boy actually still hasn't got any problems, although they look rather gnarly.

[joiedevie99]

Yup! My OTTB mare came in from the field one day with a spot of blood as well. She was missing the lower left corner incisor. Upon inspection by the vet, he says she managed to knock it out from the inside!!! We think she must have caught it on the wire mesh in between the fence boards and pulled back. She was 23 at the time. Between 23 and 24.5 she slowly lost all but one of the lower incisors. They never bothered her, she ate normally, grazed with her tongue. Finally, with one solidly left, at 26 a $%@# vet put a speculum in her mouth despite explicit instructions otherwise and cracked the remaining tooth in half. She was in pain for a few days and on heavy drugs until it was removed. She's been toothless on the bottom for a year now and is totally fine. Her only diet restriction is no whole apples or carrots, as she can't bite them off.

[TBCollector]

Thanks guys! Love hearing all your encouraging (and yes, amusing) stories. He's eating just fine and even tried to bite his buddy on the butt with his non-existent front teeth! It's really cold here now so our grass is pretty much a non-issue...I can see that I'm going to have to up his hay because he is having a hard time getting the short stuff.
We have wire mesh up around our split rail, too...I guess he could have gotten his mouth caught on that. Could have been a kick, but can't figure out how that would cause the flap on the roof of his mouth.
I don't think the hillbilly jokes are necessary...we moved to the South three years ago and I think he just wanted to blend in with the locals.

[pippa553]

My four year old is missing one of his front top teeth. He's got a pretty gnarly scar so he must of got into trouble before I got him. My vet just told me as long as we make sure all the teeth stay on an even plane (sorry don't know what the technical term is) we are a-ok. Personally I think it would be pretty funny to put in a gold tooth or something of the sort :D

[JoanR]

I have a 6-year-old Clydesdale that is missing a front tooth. He also has some broken cartilige around his nostril. He came to us this way. Speculation is he got kicked and slammed his face in a trailer. I had his teeh done by the vet when I got him and the vet said it is "no problem." And he certainly can eat...and eat...and eat! It seems like what you are doing will keep any infection away. Who knows what these horses are up to when we are not looking. My herd has had sime really bizarre injuries, most witrh no logical explanation at all!

[SkipHiLad4me]

He's eating just fine and even tried to bite his buddy on the butt with his non-existent front teeth!

That reminds me! My horse can never deny he's the one that bit another horse. He always leaves a tell-tale mark behind - one with no top teeth:

^ - - ^
^^^^

:lol:

[092556]

I had a 11 yr old paint stallion that suddenly lost a front tooth, unfortunately it was cancer.

[irkenequine]

I had a horse knock all his front teeth out on a bucket lip once... it was TRULY one of those 'how is that possible' experiences...wore a bizarre form of braces, a muzzle, and was fed liquids for...months, all summer. Came out of it fine, never had any bit problems and held his weight. For all of their fragility they can be quite adaptive :) Good luck to you.