 |
| Buccal |
adjacent to the cheek. |
| Calculus |
mineralised dental plaque that adheres to tooth surfaces. |
| Canine teeth |
the teeth found between the incisors and cheek teeth usually in male horses; the fighting teeth of the horse (104, 204, 304, 404) also called tushes or tusks. |
| Cap |
the remnant of a deciduous tooth that covers an erupting permanent tooth and is later shed. |
| Deciduous teeth |
the first dentition; milk teeth. Incisors and pre-molars only. |
| Diastema |
a space between teeth; in the horse this refers to the space between the incisors and pre-molars but more commonly a gap between adjacent teeth. |
| Floating |
the process of smoothing down the sharp buccal or lingual enamel overgrowths (points) on the cheek teeth of horses. |
| Gag |
Speculum; an instrument to prevent the closure of the mouth during oral examination. |
| Galvayne’s Groove |
a groove in the labial surface of incisors 103/203 used to estimate the age of horses, which begins to appear at approximately 10 years old, is half way down incisor at 15 years, fully down at approx 20 years, half worn away at 25 years and absent at 30 years of age. Not an accurate indication of age. |
| Gingivitis |
inflammation of the gums. |
| Hook |
a sharp narrow overgrowth developed on a tooth through abnormal wear, usually found on 1st or 6th cheek teeth. |
| Impacted teeth |
teeth which have been prevented from erupting by mechanical obstruction, usually compression from the two adjacent teeth. |
| Incisors |
teeth found at the front of the horses mouth. Used for grasping (prehension) of food. Usually 12 (101-3, 201-3, 301-3, 401-3). |
| Labial |
direction towards the lips. |
| Lingual |
referring to the tongue. Also as a direction towards the tongue. |
| Malocclusion |
faulty occlusion; abnormal contact of opposing upper and lower teeth. |
| Mandible |
lower jaw. |
| Mastication |
the grinding of food by the teeth. |
| Maxilla |
upper jaw. |
| Molars |
grinding cheek teeth that have no deciduous predecessors (109-11, 209-11, 309-11, 409-11). |
| Monkey mouth |
sow mouth; protruding mandible. |
| Occlusal surface |
surface of tooth that contacts the corresponding surfaces during closure of the mouth. |
| Overbite |
maxillary incisors that extend over the mandibular incisors. |
| Parrot mouth |
protruding maxilla. Top incisors overlap the lower completely. |
| Peridontal |
around or near the tooth; surrounding a tooth. |
| Pre-molars |
permanent teeth that replace the primary molars (106-8, 206-8, 306-8, 406-8) Pre-molar 1 ‘wolf teeth’ have no predecessors. |
| Quidding |
the term used to describe the dropping of partially masticated boluses of food from the mouth. |
| Ramp |
exaggerated upward slope of mandibular cheek teeth. |
| Rostral |
towards the muzzle. |
| Shear mouth |
a wear disorder of the cheek teeth causing the angle of the occlusal surfaces to be increased. |
| Wave mouth |
a wear disorder of the cheek teeth causing them to have a wave like appearance. |
| Wolf teeth |
vestigial pre-molars in the horse. The first pre-molar (105, 205, 305, 405). |
