DENTITION AND DENTAL DISEASES 



233 



HORSE. 



345. The horse, when full-mouthed, has forty teeth, as follows : 

 Twelve incisors, six above and six below ; four canine teeth, or 

 tushes, one on each side of the upper and lower jaw (the mare has 

 no canine teeth) ; twelve premolars, three on each side above and 

 below ; and a like number of molars similarly disposed. 



346. The marks on the crowns of the lower incisors are an 

 indication of the horse's age up to eight years. The indication marks 

 in the lower jaw are nearly worn out in the central incisors at six 

 years, in the lateral at seven years, and in the corner incisors at eight 

 years old (Plate XXVI. and text). In an old horse, with well-formed 

 teeth, artificial marks are sometimes burned in, to give the animal 

 the appearance of being young. This process is called Bishoping (so 

 named from the man Bishop, who introduced it), but it is readily 

 detected, as the enamel round the depressions is destroyed in the 

 operation. At the age of from nine to ten years the teeth change 

 their shape, and begin to turn triangular and long. At ten years the 

 upper corner incisor on the outer aspect presents at the top, close 

 to the gum, a dark yellow groove, which, as the horse grows older, 

 extends down the middle of the tooth until, at the age of twenty-one 

 years, it reaches the bottom. When this mark is present — for it is 

 not always so — it is a very good indication of the age ; but see 

 Plate XXVII. and text, which is after ' Galvayne.' 



347. The Number of Teeth in our domestic animals is as 

 follows : 



Total. 

 40 

 32 

 32 

 42 

 44 

 The top figures represent the upper jaw and the lower figures 



the under jaw. 



348. If there is one thing more than another that should com- 

 mand the attention of the country practitioner, it is dentition. The 

 condition of the teeth at times creates various disorders, disease, 



