Little Pony Problems

The case to highlight this week is an 8 year old Welsh Section A mare. This was referred to us with a hard swelling to her lower jaw, which had burst out as an abscess.

The first surprise was upon opening her mouth, where the teeth had the rollercoaster look of severe overgrowths symptomatic of no previous dental work. She was a good example of a problem in little ponies, particularly section As, where due to a lack of space in a little head and their odd face shape, sometimes teeth do not develop in the normal way, or become overcrowded, meaning teeth cannot erupt.

Oral view of the severe overgrowths.

In this pony, 2 of the usual 6 lower cheek teeth had simply never developed, leaving spaces on the lower dental arcade into which the upper teeth erupted in sharp, unworn waves. This meant that she was essentially chewing holes in her own lower jaw where teeth were missing.

As well as this one of the lower teeth had developed a tooth root infection, which may or may not have been due to the trauma caused by the upper teeth. X-rays showed that the burst abscess in the jaw tracked straight up to the root of the infected tooth, clearly identifying it as requiring removal.

X-ray image showing probe within the abscess.

The tooth came out without any complications and we began the process of reducing the overgrowths to make chewing more comfortable. This had to be done gradually, a few mm every few months, to ensure that we don't expose the pulp of the tooth as we rasp it away.

But another satisfying case where we can be sure we sent a patient home much more comfortable than it came to us. And a reminder that little ponies have their own problems and regular dental checks are an essential for any horse owner.