by Bryan L. Boone, DVM
The majority of yearlings that are being broken will
have wolf teeth, probably about 75-80%. Wolf teeth are
the first upper pre-molars, and they are vestigial, which
means they are not as fully formed as the other
pre-molars and don't really have a function in the horse
today like they probably did thousands of years ago. They
are located at the back of the interdental space-the
space between the incisors and the molars. Usually they
are located just in front of the upper (maxillary) second
pre-molar, which is the first tooth that actually looks
like a molar. I've never seen a wolf tooth on the lower
jaw (mandible), but there are reports in the literature
of them being there.
The bottom arcade is where the bit lies in most
performance horses, but in racehorses the bit tends to be
up in that interdental space and hits those wolf teeth in
the upper arcade and can cause the horse problems.
Tradition has dictated that they are prophylactically
taken out because occasionally they cause problems with
the bit, which fits in the interdental space. Trainers
don't like horses to develop bad habits with their mouth,
which can happen if the horse is uncomfortable with the
bit hitting a wolf tooth. Trainers also don't want to
stop on a young horse's training program to take out a
wolf tooth that is causing problems. Probably 99% of the
people have them taken out because they think at some
point the wolf teeth will cause problems. I'm not sure
it's always justified, but as soon as you tell someone
they don't have to take the tooth out, it's going to be
the one that will cause a problem right before the horse
is ready to make its first start.
So, wolf teeth are routinely taken out when yearlings
are being broken in the late fall or early in their
two-year-old year. Usually they have erupted or broken
the surface of the gumline by then. Occasionally you have
some that haven't erupted, but you can feel where they
are and usually see a reddened area where they will
erupt. You do this procedure when you are floating their
teeth and smoothing their pre-molars. In all, the process
takes maybe 10-15 minutes per horse. Some can be hard to
get out and be a more complicated process, but usually
it's not a long procedure.
In order to take them out you separate the periodontal
membrane from the small tooth. It's usually about a
half-inch of tooth and three-quarters of an inch of
roots. The biggest tooth I've extracted was about
three-quarters of an inch long with roots an inch long.
Even if they have not erupted, they need to be taken out.
They can still interfere with the bit.
Once you have the tooth loosened, you can lift it out
by using the second pre-molar as a fulcrum. There are
some other instruments that go all the way around the
tooth and cut around it, but that's not the way I prefer
to do it.
I usually use sedation, but it's not necessary. It
just seems to facilitate the process and makes it easier
on the horse, the handler, and the veterinarian. Also,
the palantine artery lies along the inside of the upper
arcade. If it is damaged it can bleed seriously, but it's
not life-threatening. That's really the major concern in
extracting the wolf teeth.
Invariably, veterinarians and owners get busy and we
don't get to the horses that need to have this done
before they start training.
The horses that have trouble with their mouth -- the
horses whose wolf teeth really cause problems -- are the
ones that have wolf teeth that aren't right against the
second pre-molar. They are some distance away from that
second pre-molar. I guess because of the space the wolf
teeth are not protected by that second pre-molar. That
lets the bit beat around on the wolf tooth and causes
periodontal disease, inflammation, and soreness around
the tooth. Those are the horses that the riders and
trainers say need to be done right away because their
teeth are bothering them.
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