Special report on diseases of the horse / by Drs. Pearson [and others].

Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Special report on diseases of the horse / by Drs. Pearson [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    50/690 (page 44)
    is to be discovered in the horse by the pain expressed by him while feeding or drinking cold water. I have seen horses affected with toothache that would suddenly stop chewing, throw the head to one side, and slightly open the mouth. They behave as though some sharp body had punctured the mouth. If upon examination there is no foreign body found we must then carefully examine each tooth. If this can not be done with the hand in the mouth we can, in most instances, discover the aching tooth by pressing each tooth from without. By tapping the teeth in succession with a hard object, such as a small hammer, the one that is tender may be located. The horse will flinch when the sore tooth is pressed or tapped upon. In most cases there is nothing to be done but extract the decayed tooth, and this, of course, is only to be attempted b}^ the veterinarian. There is a deformity, known as parrot-mouth, that interferes with prehension, mastication, and indirectly, with digestion. The upper incisors project in front of and beyond the lower ones. The teeth of both jaws become unusually long, as they are not worn down by fric- tion. Such horses experience much difficulty in grazing. Little can be done except to occasionally examine the teeth, and if those of the lower jaw become so long that they bruise the u bars” of the upper jaw, they must be shortened by the rasp or saw. Horses with this deformity should never be left entirely at pasture. DISEASES OF THE MOUTH. Lampas.—Lampas is the name given to a swelling of the mucous membrane covering the hard palate and projecting in a more or less prominent ridge immediately behind the upper incisors. The hard palate is composed of spongy tissue that fills with blood when the horse is feeding and this causes the ridges to become prominent, and they then help to keep food from dropping from the mouth. This swelling is entirely natural and occurs in every healthy horse. Where there is some irritation in the mouth, as in stomatitis or during teeth- ing, the prominence of the hard palate may persist, due to the increased blood supply. In such cases the cause of the irritation should be sought for and removed. By way of direct treatment, slight scarifica- tion is the most that will be required. Burning the lampas is bar- barous and injurious, and it should never be tolerated. It is quite a common opinion among owners of horses and stablemen that lampas is a disease that very frequently exists. In fact whenever a horse fails to eat, and if he does not exhibit very marked symptoms of a severe illness, they say at once “he has the lampas.” It is almost impossible to convince them to the contrary, yet it is not the case. It may be put down, then, as an affliction of the stableman’s imagination rather than of the horse’s mouth. Stomatitis.—This is an inflammation of the mucous membrane lin-