Radiological prevalence of equine odontoclastic tooth resorption and hypercementosis

BackgroundEquine odontoclastic tooth resorption and hypercementosis (EOTRH) is a painful and progressive dental disease that mainly affects the incisors and canine teeth of aged horses. Diagnosis is based on radiographs to detect early stages of the disease. EOTRH is probably underdiagnosed and its prevalence in Germany unknown. ObjectiveThis study was performed to determine the radiological prevalence of EOTRH in a large horse population in Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany. Study designPrevalence study. MethodsThe study population (142 horses) consisted of all horses 10years and older that were presented at the Equine Hospital for a routine dental examination. The horses were either presented as clinical cases (CC population) or belonged to a riding school (RS population). Digital radiographs of the incisor dentition were taken and evaluated for changes related to EOTRH, leading to an overall classification for each horse. ResultsThe mean age of the study population was 21years and ranged from 10 to 37years. Overall, 94% of all horses had at least minor and 62% had moderate to severe radiological changes of the incisor teeth associated to EOTRH. No horse older than 14years was without radiological signs of EOTRH and all horses over 28years of age had at least moderate radiological changes of the incisor teeth. Main limitationsThe clinical cases group might have a bias towards horses with existing dental problems such as EOTRH, because they were presented explicitly for dental care to a clinic. ConclusionFocusing on radiological changes, this study shows that EOTRH is a common condition of horses in Berlin-Brandenburg. With older age, disease is more frequent and radiological changes become more severe. Since no horse older than 14years was without radiological findings, it is likely that mild changes may be associated with the normal tooth ageing process.