From page 34
sharpen through the friction
of other teeth and tend to be
very sharp and dangerous.
Pigs typically use their molars,
which become irregularly
formed over time, to crush
their food before ingesting.
Pigs are omnivores, which
means they eat both plants
and animals, and need their
canines and molars to chew
their food and eat.
When you are making a brief
oral examination, it is helpful
to use a head-light, which
leaves both your hands free.
It is also good to have
someone to hold the animal
for you.
A thorough examination of
the mouth of a large animal
may involve the use of a
tranquiliser or a tranquilising
device.
Check for excessive incisor
wear. With excessive wear,
the incisors become short and
may be worn down to the
level of the gums. This
happens when soil or sand on
pasture gradually files away at
the teeth until they are worn,
so it is usually only a problem
in older animals.
Livestock with very worn
incisors can do well as long as
they don't have to eat very
short or stringy pasture. They
can be fed long soft pasture
or hay or silage or concentrate feed.
Periodontal disease affects the
tissues that surround the neck
and root of a tooth. In any
animal, periodontal disease of
LIVESTOCK
the incisors causes them to
efficiently and can cause
become long and loose and
ulcers on the cheeks and
they may be missing. This is
tongue. The signs of this
caused by infection around
include dropping of feed
the teeth (periodontitis).
from the mouth while
chewing, bulging of the
If an animal has only a few
cheeks caused by wads of
very loose incisors, it is
food becoming impacted
probably best to remove
them, either with your fingers between the teeth and
or with pliers. The animal will cheek, and/or green staining
around the mouth caused by
then be 'gummy', but it can
drooling of saliva.
still stay in good body
condition if it is offered long
Overgrown edges on cheek
soft pasture or hay or silage or teeth are common in elderly
concentrate feed. Don't
Continued on page 37
attempt to
remove any
teeth that
are not
already
very loose.
Check for
cheek
teeth.
Cheek
teeth may
become
unevenly
worn, so
they don't
grind feed Condition of the gums is also important
35
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