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fizzy drinks and sweets can quickly lead to cavities. But what about horses? Does the sugar content of their diet also affect their teeth in a similar way?
Recent research from Milena Lacerenza and colleagues at the University of São Paulo and São Paulo State University in Brazil has shed light on just how important diet is in shaping the oral microbiota (the community of microorganisms in the mouth) and in influencing the development of dental caries (tooth decay) in horses.
In many parts of the world, horse owners are turning to silages and forages with a higher sugar content, such as sugarcane, as a cheap and readily available alternative to traditional forage. While sugarcane may seem like a convenient option, this study raises important questions about what happens inside the horse’s mouth when diets are high in soluble carbohydrates.
For comparison, the researchers looked at horses fed sugarcane versus those grazing on Cynodon spp. (pasture grass also known as Bermudagrass or star grass) which is more in line with the kind of forage horses evolved to eat. It is worth noting, however, thatthe study didn’t account for differences in hard feed or supplements.
The team worked with twenty healthy horses, mixed in age, sex, and breed, with an average age of nine years. Half of these horses had been fed sugarcane as their main roughage for at least three years, while the others had been maintained on Cynodon pasture for the same period. Each horse received a detailed dental examination using an oral endoscope to identify caries and abnormal gaps between teeth (diastemata), and saliva samples were taken to analyse the bacterial communities present in the mouth.
The results were clear: horses fed sugarcane had far more problems with tooth decay than those kept on grass. They not only showed a significantly higher presence of peripheral caries, but also had more cases of diastemata, which can trap food and create further complications.
Interestingly, while the overall diversity of oral bacteria remained similar between the two groups, the types of bacteria dominating the mouth were very different. Sugar-fed horses showed higher levels of Candidatus Saccharibacteria and Bacteroidetes, both associated with disease. In contrast, the grass-fed horses had more Cyanobacteria Chloroplast and Proteobacteria, which seemed to play a more protective role. In fact, more than 35 different bacterial genera were found to vary significantly depending on diet, underlining how strongly forage choices shape the microbial balance in the horse’s mouth.
Horses evolved to graze on fibrous, low-sugar grasses, and their teeth and mouths are adapted to this diet. Feeding forages that are rich in sugar may upset this natural balance, encouraging harmful bacteria to thrive and putting horses at greater risk of painful dental problems. Caries in horses are far from harmless: they can lead to discomfort when eating, difficulty chewing, food packing between the teeth, infections, and even weight loss if left untreated.
This research highlights how closely diet, oral bacteria, and dental disease are linked, and it reinforces the importance of choosing forages that support not only the digestive system but also the long-term comfort and health of the horse’s mouth.
For more details, see:
Lacerenza, Milena Domingues, Júlia de Assis Arantes, Gustavo Morandini Reginato, Gabriela Luiza Fagundes Finardi, Pedro Henrique Marchi, Thiago Henrique Annibale Vendramini, Rodrigo Romero Corrêa, Pamela Aparecida Maldaner Pereira, Carlos Augusto Araújo Valadão, and Renata Gebara Sampaio Dória. (2025). Microbiome and Dental Changes in Horses Fed a High Soluble Carbohydrate Diet
Animals 15, no. 17: 2547.
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