Ins and Outs of Equine Dental Extractions

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2026 issue of EquiManagement. Sign up here for a FREE subscription to EquiManagement’s quarterly digital or print magazine and any special issues.

Dental disease occurs with relative frequency in horses, necessitating that even gift horses require routine oral examinations. Cheek teeth pathology, such as periapical abscesses, tooth fractures, nonvital teeth, malocclusions, supernumerary teeth, or tooth resorption, might dictate extractions. And while these procedures can seem straightforward, many don’t go quite as planned. Amelie McAndrews, DVM, DAVDC-EQ, owner of Garden State Equine Dentistry in Princeton, New Jersey, and clinical associate at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, says cheek teeth can present with the following features that complicate extraction:

• Having curved (dilacerated) roots that anchor the tooth into the socket.
• Presence of fractured crown, a tooth that is worn due to geriatric attrition and has minimal clinical crown, or malocclusions, making it difficult to grasp the tooth.
• Pre-extraction radiographic evidence showing crown lucency, indicating the tooth is going to fracture.
• Indications for catastrophic mandibular fracture based on radiographs.
• Radiographic evidence of external replacement resorption, indicating the tooth will be cemented to the surrounding bone and very difficult to remove, likely accompanied by crown fracture.
• Mesial or distal drift of surrounding teeth, causing crown interlock.