Many unhappy, possibly spooky, one sided, intermittently lame horses have TMJ (temporomandibular joint) distress. The biomechanics of the TMJ are directly related to a horse’s posture, balance, rhythm, and general well being. The jaw joint is grossly overlooked by horsemen, veterinarians, and even equine dentists. It is the closest joint in the body to the brain and brain stem and is flooded with proprioceptors that tell the body where it is in space.
Many dental practitioners are far too focused on smoothing up those molar tables without even considering how their work affects the TMJ. Now with the advent of SO many new power instruments on the market it is easy to get over aggressive with the floating.
Even though horses do have continually erupting teeth, there is only so much tooth that can erupt over a year’s time and that amount diminishes significantly as horses age. We see horses in our practice daily that have been overfloated in the molars to the extent that their table angles have been flattened and even sometimes reversed. These table angles are necessary for proper guidance to the jaw joint. It also leaves the horse riding on his incisors (front teeth) with little or NO molar contact. These horses go into TMJ Myofascial pain syndrome trying to clench the muscles that close the jaw in an effort to get their molars back in contact.