Determining age through teeth

Course code: HWAT106

1 July 2023

Introduction

Being able to age equids within a narrow range can be useful for owners and professionals alike when accurate records are unavailable. This short course focuses on ageing donkeys by dentition, covering the ageing process of an equid from a newborn up to a geriatric animal.

This didactic guide intends to cover the ageing process of an equid from a new-born up to a geriatric animal, in an organised and comprehensive way.

Age and dental health are often implicated in decision making concerning health, nutrition, handling, and work, making understanding of age-related changes even more important for good welfare. Ageing donkeys by dentition is far from an accurate process, but as you will learn, there are some genetically predetermined events that occur at somewhat predictable times in the donkey’s life that can help guide us towards a likely age range.

Free online course. Self-paced.

Course details

This course aims to establish a scientific, evidence-based approach to ageing by dentition. Participants will develop an in-depth knowledge of underpinning theories of ageing and dental wear. Understanding the age of an equid is important in terms of animal health and welfare, especially when considering management, handling and work-related practices.

Ageing by the visual appearance of the incisors is typically an educated guess. As more science-based evidence arises, it highlights the inaccuracies of ageing by dentition. Factors such as geographic location, species, breed, malocclusions, dental disease, vices, grazing masks, forage containers, type of diet and even the quality of the feed can have an effect on incisor wear, and therefore impacting upon accurate age estimation.

Modules

Basic anatomy
How to safely open the mouth to check the incisors
Ageing donkeys step by step
Further reading and resources
Plus opportunities to test your newly acquired knowledge using the ungraded quizzes.

By the end of the course, you should be able to demonstrate the ability to describe, apply, evaluate, and interpret this knowledge to estimate age in a range of equines.

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