The Slaughtening Causes with Dental and Gingival Lesions in Dairy Cows within Postmortem Period

Abstract

Background: A regular and balanced feeding is essential for the animals in order to maintain their normal physiological function and be productive at the desired level. Digestion activities start with chewing in the mouth and the healthy dental arch is needed to perform a complete chewing function. Abnormal dental development and other dental pathologies impair digestive functions by negatively affecting chewing functions. The aim of the present study was to classified dental anomalies, dental degenerations, dental and gingival lesions seen in dairy cows and was aimed to reveal these lesions and depending on these disorders the reasons for slaughtering in dairy cows. Materials, Methods & Results: The material of this study consists of 600 dairy cows, being slaughtered for a year, and 170 dairy cows, detected dental anomalies, dental degenerations and dental-gingival lesions in the postmortem examination. Detailed macroscopic and radiological examinations of mandibles and maxillae of the dairy cows with dental and gingival lesions in postmortem examination were performed. The detailed information of the cases, such as: age, race, breeding, living region and slaughtering causes, etc. of dairy cows, suffering from dental lesions was recorded from slaughterhouse data access. In this study, 87 cases (51.18%) of the determined dental lesions were defined as dental degeneration, 34 cases (20%) as caries, 30 cases (17.64%) as dental abnormalities in the formation and dental arch and 19 cases (11.18%) as periodontal inflammation. Discussion: In dairy cow breeding, there is a close relationship between production costs and business profitability and animal disease and fertility problems. Although the existence of negative effects of dental lesions directly on the digestive functions is known in dairy cattle breeding; there was no study about the state of dental diseases in dairy cow. In this respect, this research is quite important both for revealing the proportion of dental diseases seen in dairy cow and for drawing attention to the relationship between these diseases and the reasons for slaughtering of dairy cow. In this study, various dental anomalies, dental degenerations, dental and gingival lesions (28.33%) were detected in 170 dairy cows, decreased milk production in 38 cases (22.35%), infertility in 65 cases (38.24%), gastrointestinal system diseases such as abomasal dislocation, constipation and indigestion in 38 cases (22.35%) and foot diseases in 19 cases (11.18%). Also, economic reasons were determined as slaughtering reasons in 10 (5.88%) of the cases. The results of this research indicate that dental and gingival lesions may be regarded as preliminary results in the development of digestive system diseases, and then the various detailed clinical studies are needed to determine whether there is a relationship between digestive system diseases and dental diseases. As a result, this study first classified the dental lesions determined after slaughter in cattle and revealed the relationship between the reasons for slaughtering of dairy cows of the determined dental lesions. The results obtained in this study showed that dental anomalies, caries and periodontal inflammation effect significantly on the dairy cow fertility.