# Diastemas in horses, how do you deal with it?



## Laura-Maybe-IV (13 April 2013)

Hello all 

My horse was diagnosed with a diastema last October, I am going to get the EDT to come and have another look as her quidding is getting worse, she sometimes opens her mouth quiet widely as to dislodge food.

She is eating less and less of her hay I've also tried haylage, I think she is going to need some forage replacement, if not total hay replacement. What do you all feed your horses with diastema's as hay replacement?

Thank you


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## JanetGeorge (13 April 2013)

The problem with diastemas is usually chewed food getting stuck in the gap and setting up infection/inflammation.  If the opposing corners are rounded off (making the actual gap larger) this can help the problem as is cleaning the gap regularly (if you can teach your horse to accept a hose pipe being put in the corner of the mouth you can wsh the gap out - or use a LARGE syringe to squirt into the gap every day or two.


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## lachlanandmarcus (13 April 2013)

The other thing I would add is that with a horse with this issue it would be best as routine to get them seen by the EDT every six months anyway, so they would be due another visit based on them being seen in October.


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## JanetGeorge (13 April 2013)

On feeding, there are some good fibre mashes around.  You can add chaff to them, PLENTY of water (preferably warm.)  Sugar beet pulp is also a good fibre feed.


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## Doris68 (13 April 2013)

As above, agree with Janet - hose pipe if you can and the horse will let you.  Had the dentist (also a vet) to my 27 yo, a few weeks and she had been diagnosed with diastemas by a different vet last year.  The first vet recommended a visit to Newmarket to sort it out!
The latest vet/dentist advised against this as he said my mare's teeth were the best he'd seen in a 27 yo horse!

Squirting with a "human mouth wash" was also recommended.


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## paulineh (13 April 2013)

I have an Arab mare that has Diastemas. She is seen every six months by my EDT. We also syringe her mouth out before and after each feed. I was told to use a weak solution of Listerine mouth wash.

I have tought her to except a large tooth brush, I got mine in Boots (It is one used to clean a babies bottle) and a couple of times a week I use it to clean her teeth.

My girl does not have a problem eating  her hay, but I do know when it is getting close  to a visit from my EDT.

Another thing I find that helps is to make the feeds very wet. I do use grass nuts and Lucie nuts from Simple Systems.


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## Silverfire (14 April 2013)

24/7 turnout on short grass is supposed to be the best thing for diastema's.   But if you can't do that then you could have the diastema made wider. If she is quidding a lot and not eating her hay then you will probably find (like i did) that no amount of syringing, brushing, hosing will help it. My filly had two last June and another already made wider the previous December (when she was 18 months old) and i syringed twice a day with salt water but it did nothing to help, by Sept she had six diastema's and was quidding a lot, packing them with dental putty made them worse. She got to the point of not being able to eat hay at all, just chewed and dropped it. Five of them were made wider in Oct. After having them made wider she now eats a normal amount of hay or haylage, sometimes she quids a little when she first starts eating haylage but most of the time i don't see her quidding at all.
Dengie hifi senior is a soft easy to chew hay replacer for old horses/horses with teeth problems (its alfa a and grass).  I fed my filly hifi senior, soaked grass nuts and speedibeet while she couldn't eat much hay. I did give her hay too which she would chew up, it kept her happy even though she couldn't swallow much of it.


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## hoggedmane (14 April 2013)

my 22 year old has a diastema

- 6 monthly checks  - gap has been widened and rounded off
- smell her breath - if it is full of decaying food it will smell.
- she likes the hose in her mouth
- I have tweezers to remove stuck food from visible teeth


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## Goldenstar (14 April 2013)

And lastest from my vet they think The fact they see more now is because horses eat mixes hitch are coated in molasses and the like.
So back to straights and use speedibeet or similar not mollassed beet.


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## hoggedmane (15 April 2013)

Oh yes mine is fed simple systems so no cereals or molasses for her!


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## Bennions Field (16 April 2013)

I have a 30 year old with one she cannot eat hay any more but poss due to lack of teeth too, she has 2-3 sections of hay cut with a chaff cutter (brought off eBay ) to which she has a scoop of s/beet soaked and a scoop of grass nuts (nthrn crop driers) she tucks into this every night, takes her all night to eat and has done really well this winter, loads of soft short easily chewable roughage just perfect for her, the chaff cutter has saved a fortune too


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## figgy (16 April 2013)

My 3 year old had them he was having trouble eating hay vet wanted to drill them to make wider but I did t want that, got an equine dentist down he said he will probably grow out of it, turned him out 27/4 his now 6 and vet looked at them last week and couldn't belive that they had closed up. I know that its not the same as you but perhaps turning out 24/7 . Xx


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