to wear inside the mouth and the teeth begin erupting on a continual basis. Well-cared for domestic horses generally live for a lot longer than free living (wild and feral) horses. This means that their teeth have to last them for a lot longer too. The teeth can develop sharp edges and uneven wear. If the horse's ability to grind down food sufficiently is compromised for any reason, the enzymes and microbes of the gastrointestinal tract have a hard time continuing the digestive process and one of the results is a drop in condition. Often it is poor condition of the teeth that leads to starvation and premature death in free living horses. Teeth problems can also cause behavioural problems as the horse attempts to alleviate any pain. Horses need regular dental care if they are to get the maximum benefit from their feed and perform well. Potential problems include: Sharp cheek teeth (molars). This occurs to some extent in all horses but its occurrence is accelerated when horses have a high grain diet because the horse chews grain differently to grasses and hay. This causes the teeth to wear shaper edges. Imperfect meeting of the teeth such as parrot mouth - overbite - (where the top row of incisors are further forward than the bottom row) and sow mouth - underbite - (where the bottom row of incisors are further forward than the top row) causes problems with grazing (as the horse cannot 'clip' the grass properly) and the