Equine dental care including teeth floating is essential for welfare but must be performed correctly. Understanding proper dental care prevents both dental disease and iatrogenic harm.
Equine dental welfare exists on both ends of a spectrum: horses with unaddressed dental disease suffer chronic pain from sharp points, ulcers on the cheeks and tongue, and difficulty chewing that impairs nutrition. However, over-zealous dental work including excessive reduction of teeth, removal of appropriate tooth contact, or incorrect angle grinding creates new welfare problems including difficulty grazing and abnormal wear patterns. The welfare imperative is for qualified dental assessment and targeted treatment, not aggressive prophylactic reduction. Sedated dental examinations allow proper visualization of all dental structures - standing examinations without sedation miss pathology that affects welfare. Annual professional dental care is one of the most reliable investments in long-term equine welfare available to horse owners.