do these broken teeth look alright?

[lauryn1289]

i just wanted to double check if anyone has more experience with broken teeth than i do. Ollie here (5ish years old) has broken his teeth twice now over the years but he’s also the only pig i’ve ever had to break a tooth at all so i’m very limited on experience. he saw the vet last Wednesday for a checkup, she said the teeth looked fine and just to keep a close eye on them of course to see how they grind down but she didn’t think they needed to be shaved

the little divot/chip in his top incisors came after the broken lower one because even broken teeth didn’t stop him going ham on the cage bars to intimidate his friend he’s eating hay, veggies and pellets as normal and i got him a little chewy treat stick (which i know aren’t super healthy but just trying to encourage him to keep chewing at stuff)

 

[Claire W]

From the limited experience I have, they look like they should be doing at this stage. The top incisors should level themselves out as the bottom incisor grows again. They’re slanting inwards as they’re both grinding on the one normal incisor at the bottom. I hope that makes sense?

Make sure you weigh him daily and see your vet if he is losing weight. If he’s struggling with veggies, you can cut them up in to matchsticks to make eating them easier for him but it sounds like he’s doing fine.

Sadly there’s little that can be done for bar chewers x

 

[Wiebke]

As long as the teeth are not pointing inwards (meaning that they too long to work against each other) then this looks like they are still abrading against each other.

What he needs is plenty of silica-rich hay/grass fibre to keep the crucial back teeth ground down. While he is grinding down that fibre, he is automatically also moving his front teeth against each other and is keeping them at the right length. Because he has one tooth working against two, the line is not even at that point.

It will even out again as the broken tooth grows in and evens out the balance between the four incisors.

 

[lauryn1289]

As long as the teeth are not pointing inwards (meaning that they too long to work against each other) then this looks like they are still abrading against each other.

What he needs is plenty of silica-rich hay/grass fibre to keep the crucial back teeth ground down. While he is grinding down that fibre, he is automatically also moving his front teeth against each other and is keeping them at the right length. Because he has one tooth working against two, the line is not even at that point.

It will even out again as the broken tooth grows in and evens out the balance between the four incisors.

thank you! i got him a bag of some really expensive dense fibrous hay a few days to throw in with his regular meadow hay to make sure he’s excited to eat a heap as well as grinding down his teeth. safe to say he’s loving it

 

[lauryn1289]

From the limited experience I have, they look like they should be doing at this stage. The top incisors should level themselves out as the bottom incisor grows again. They’re slanting inwards as they’re both grinding on the one normal incisor at the bottom. I hope that makes sense?

Make sure you weigh him daily and see your vet if he is losing weight. If he’s struggling with veggies, you can cut them up in to matchsticks to make eating them easier for him but it sounds like he’s doing fine.

Sadly there’s little that can be done for bar chewers x

yes makes perfect sense, thank you! i’ve been keeping a really close eye on him. luckily i don’t think he’s having issues with veggies or his every now and then handful of pellets either, he ate some romaine lettuce, a tomato and cucumber last night like nobody’s business

i never had bar chewers until i got Ollie a few years ago and his current friend that i adopted this year (more like frenemy) Miso-Thomas. Ollie’s brutal for bar chewing but he’s met his match, except Ollie’s bar chewing is purely aggression, impatience and the occasional escape from his cage and Miso-Thomas’ is just trying to get any food he possibly can through the bars. greedy pig is an understatement but the bar chewing symphony at night might as well be through speakers they’re so loud

 

[Claire W]

yes makes perfect sense, thank you! i’ve been keeping a really close eye on him. luckily i don’t think he’s having issues with veggies or his every now and then handful of pellets either, he ate some romaine lettuce, a tomato and cucumber last night like nobody’s business

i never had bar chewers until i got Ollie a few years ago and his current friend that i adopted this year (more like frenemy) Miso-Thomas. Ollie’s brutal for bar chewing but he’s met his match, except Ollie’s bar chewing is purely aggression, impatience and the occasional escape from his cage and Miso-Thomas’ is just trying to get any food he possibly can through the bars. greedy pig is an understatement but the bar chewing symphony at night might as well be through speakers they’re so loud

Sorry, after reading Wiebke’s reply I didn’t mean the incisors pointing inwards, inwards but uneven at the bottom of the teeth.

It’s great that he isn’t struggling with veg and pellets but weighing him will keep a check on his hay intake which is the most important thing. If he’s losing weight, he isn’t eating enough hay which would be a concern.

Sounds like he’s a little rascal with his bar chewing x