Equine malocclusion

It results in a faulty bite with the upper and lower teeth failing to meet correctly.

In addition, discomfort can lead to poor behavior when the animal is ridden or driven, particularly if a bit is used in the horse's mouth.

They can be hereditary or developmental meaning that the horse can have an overbite at birth or can have another malocclusion that forces the disalignment of the jaw.

Rostral hooks can result in improper and extreme molar wear especially to the opposing lower premolar.

[2] Wave complexes occur when the molar arcade develops an uneven surface with a wave-like appearance.

It results in prematurely worn out teeth, periodontal pocketing, decay, and tooth loss.

It also prevents the horse from properly grinding its food as it makes side-to-side chewing difficult.

It can prevent the horse from freely chewing and cause the improper wear of the molars and incisors.

Preventative maintenance must be used to stop this from happening again in the event that it was caused by a lost tooth.

They can result from the disalignment of the jaw or the horse is not chewing in a proper sideways motion.

To resolve these you must reduce the enlarged ridges to let the opposing teeth recover and allow the horse to chew correctly.

Food can be trapped between teeth leading to severe periodontal disease and poor dental health overall.

Normal horse teeth.
A young horse with a parrot mouth.
A caudal hook is characterized by the posterior molar developing a growth which overhangs and “hooks” around the adjacent tooth. This diagram depicts a caudal hook on the lower last molar, however the upper last molar can also develop a caudal hook.
A rostral hook is characterized by the first premolar developing a growth that precedes the adjacent tooth. This diagram depicts a rostral hook of the upper first premolar, however a rostral hook can also affect the lower first premolar as well.