Why horses' mouths need routine attention at all
A horse's teeth erupt slowly throughout life to replace what grazing and chewing wear away, and they rarely wear evenly. The upper jaw is wider than the lower, so the grinding motion leaves sharp enamel points along the outer edges of the top teeth and the inner edges of the bottom ones. Left alone, those points cut into the cheeks and tongue, and the horse starts dropping feed, tilting his head to chew, resisting the bit, or quietly eating less than he needs. Young horses are changing teeth as adult ones come through, and older horses develop loose, worn or missing teeth, so the mouth of almost any age carries something worth looking at once or twice a year.
Sedation and the speculum
Most dental work starts with sedation, not because the horse is badly behaved but because a relaxed horse opens the visit up properly: the vet can reach the very back teeth, feel each one individually, and work without the horse tossing his head. A full-mouth speculum, often called a gag, is fitted like a bridle with plates between the front teeth, and it holds the mouth safely open while a head stand or an assistant supports the horse's head at working height. With a light and sometimes a mirror or camera, the vet looks along the rows of teeth before touching anything, and runs a hand carefully over them to feel what eyes miss.
The rasping itself, and what the vet is feeling for
The rasping, called floating, uses hand rasps or a motorised tool to take the sharp points down to smooth, rounded edges, working steadily along each row. It is shaping, not shortening: the aim is a mouth the horse can grind side to side with comfortably. As the work proceeds the vet checks for hooks at the front and back of the rows, ramps where one tooth has overgrown into a slope, wave mouth where the row undulates, wolf teeth sitting where the bit rests, and any tooth that is loose, cracked or smells wrong. The insides of the cheeks and the tongue are checked too, because ulcers there are the usual evidence that points have been cutting for a while.
What a routine visit can uncover
Routine is the point: most dental problems are found before the horse shows you anything. A visit can turn up a fractured tooth, an early diastema, gaps between teeth where food packs and rots, a retained cap in a young horse that is stopping the adult tooth coming through cleanly, or simply wear so uneven that the feeding plan needs to change. In older horses the visit is often where you learn a tooth is on borrowed time, which changes how you feed long before it changes anything else. Anything found is charted, tooth by tooth, so progression can be judged at the next appointment rather than guessed.
Afterwards, and how often it repeats
A sedated horse should stand somewhere quiet and safe until fully awake, with no hard feed, hay or work until swallowing and coordination are completely normal, and most horses are back to themselves within a short while. The interval to the next visit depends on age and findings: youngsters and veterans usually need checking more often than a straightforward adult in his prime. Record the date, the findings and the agreed interval as soon as the vet leaves, and store the chart in KinsLe's Pet Passport alongside the vaccination record, so whoever asks, including the next dental vet, sees the mouth's whole story in one packet.