TEETH AND TOOTHACHE. lOI 



*'The young horse's teeth meet in the mouth, edge 

 to edge, being upright. Some horses are parrot- 

 mouthed, so that the upper teeth project somewhat, 

 but the back ones always meet squarely. As they 

 grow older the teeth in both jaws project more and 

 more, making an acute angle, until, at twenty years 

 of age, the undersides meet together." 



Ah, I see. Did you ever pull a horse's tooth? 



" Never, but once. The horse in this case had 

 what are called Jforcme teeth ; that is, four little tusks 

 growing at the sides of the mouth. As they were 

 not attached to the bone, I nipped them off promptly 

 with the forceps with little pain to the horse, who 

 was greatly relieved to be rid of them." 



And is this the only case? 



" I was called once to come quickly to a horse, 

 supposed to be suffering from lockjaw. After ex- 

 amination I could assure his anxious owner that the 

 trouble was a very trivial one. A tooth in the upper 

 jaw had broken off, and just opposite to it, in the 

 lower jaw, was a tooth projecting nearly an inch 

 above the others. When the horse closed his mouth 

 in eating, the projecting tooth fitted nicely into the 

 hollow of the broken tooth above, and became 

 wedged or locked." 



What did you do? 



" It was very simple. I pried open his mouth 

 with a chisel and filed off the long tooth, so that 

 there was no further danger of its locking — an 

 operation which the horse seemed to understand, 

 and bore very patiently." 



