Periodontal disease in equids

Periodontal disease affects the tissues of the periodontium i.e. the gingival mucosa, periodontal ligament (PDL), and bone lining the alveolar socket (Shuttleworth, 1948). Inflammation of these tissues is periodontitis, with other terms commonly used being ‘alveolar periostitis,’ ‘alveolar osteitis,’ ‘alveolar disease,’ ‘Rigg’s disease,’ ‘periosteitis,’ ‘pyorrhea alveolaris,’ ‘paradontal disease’ and ‘chronic ossifying alveolar periostitis’ (Miles and Grigson, 1990,Wafa, 1988). Diseases of the periodontium have been reported from as early as 400BC, when Xenophon’s soldiers had symptoms akin to necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (Shafer et al., 1983). In 1906 Colyer described periodontal disease as the ‘scourge of the horse,’ finding this disease to be present in approximately one third of 484 skulls examined (Miles and Grigson, 1990). In the intervening 100 years, our knowledge of the equine periodontium has continued to improve with recent work emphasising the dynamic nature of the equine periodontium (Warhonowicz et al., 2006,Mitchell, 2004) ...