Abstract
Background
Bacteria, diet and host factors play important roles for caries in humans. Streptococcus devriesei has been associated with infundibular caries in horses, a bacterial species that has similar properties to Streptococcus mutans that is associated with caries in humans. We investigated differences between two groups of horses, one with and one without maxillary P2 caries, to elucidate the relationship of caries to feeding regimes and environmental factors.
Of all 71 horses included, 39 had the diagnoses of caries in the infundibula of the second maxillary molars (P2), and were presented at an animal dental clinic during a 6-month period. Matched by region, usage, discipline and date of examination controls (n=32), i.e. horseswith no signs of infundibular caries, were used as a comparison group. All owners filled in a questionnaire on feeding, type of use and environmental factors.
Results:
Significant differences between the two groups were found for four factors: In the caries group there was a higher presence of excessive tooth abrasion caused by the bit on P2s, and higher proportion of feed concentrate given to the horses; in the non-caries group, more horses spent time on pasture in the summer, and there was a higher proportion of horses with a post normal occlusion. There was no difference between groups regarding other types of forage.
Conclusions:
Tooth abrasion caused by the bit and too little time eating roughage were found to be risk factors connected with P2-infundibular caries in horses. These finding indicates that caries constitute a “multifactorial disease” in horses, as is the case in humans.