Editing Horse teeth (section)

===Typical wear patterns===

The following are typical wear patterns in horses.

; Cups
: [[Infundibulum (tooth)|Cups]] are hollow and rectangular or oval in shape, appearing on the tables of the permanent incisors, that wear away over time. In general, cups are worn away on the lower central incisors by age 6, the lower intermediates by age 7, and corners at age 8. The cups of the upper central incisors are worn away by 9 years of age, the upper intermediate incisors by 10, and the corners by 11. When all the cups are gone, the horse is referred to as ''smooth mouthed''.  In the past, dishonest dealers would "bishop" the teeth of old horses, usually by burning an indentation into the teeth, to imitate cups: but this practice was detectable by the absence of the white edge of enamel that always surrounds the real cup, by the shape of the teeth, and other marks of age about the animal.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Lawrence, John|year=1796|title=A Philosophical and Practical Treatise on Horses: And on the Moral Duties of Man Towards the Brute Creation|location=London|publisher=T.N. Longman|volume=1|page=[https://archive.org/details/aphilosophicala02lawrgoog/page/n130 116]|oclc=519860390}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Clarke, William H.|year=1893|title=Horses' teeth: a treatise on their mode of development, anatomy, microscopy, pathology, and dentistry; compared with the teeth of many other land and marine animals, both living and extinct; with a vocabulary and copious extracts from the works of odontologists and veterinarians|location=New York|publisher=W. R. Jenkins|pages=[https://archive.org/details/horsesteethatre00clargoog/page/n216 210&ndash;211]|oclc=9067598}}</ref>

; Pulp mark/dental star
: After some wear has occurred on the teeth, the central pulp cavity is exposed, and the tooth is marked by a "dental star" or "pulp mark" that is smaller than the incisor cups.  These begin as a dark line in front of the dental cup, which grows in size and becomes more oval in shape as the cups are worn away. Dental stars are usually first visible at age 6, on the animal's lower central incisors, and very visible by age 8. They appear on the lower intermediates by age 9, and on the other incisors between the ages of 10–12 years.

; Hook/notch
: A hook appears on the upper corner incisor around age 7, and disappears by age 8. It reappears around age 13, again disappearing about 1 year later.

{{anchor|Galvayne's groove}}
; Galvayne's groove
: The Galvayne's groove occurs on the upper corner incisor, producing a vertical line, and is helpful in approximating the age of older horses. It generally first appears at age 10, reaches halfway down the tooth by age 15, and is completely down the tooth at age 20. It then begins to disappear, usually half-way gone by age 25, and completely gone by age 30. The groove is named after horse expert [[Sydney Frederick Galvayne]] who claimed he had invented the use the groove to age a horse; however, it had been earlier described by his teacher Professor Hamilton Sample.

; Angle and shape of the incisors
: As the horse ages, the angle of the incisors generally becomes more acute, slanting forward. The incisors gradually change their form as the horse ages, becoming round, oval, and then triangular.