teeth grinding/hooves

Question
hey i have written to you before and you always reassured me before of things i was worried about. i know i overreact to things with my baby all the time, but i just worry about everything with her. my baby girl turned 3 in december. the past couple of months she has been gritting her teeth. not constantly, mostly when she is walking around. sometimes. we have been learning on our own to trim her hooves. my husband is getting better at it each time we do it. they are still not where we want them to be, but look good. we didnt know if that could be the cause of the grinding teeth. also, i have a question about her tusk. i know with females the tusk doesnt grow out like the males. one side (R) is kinda swollen and red. we push on it, and it doesnt hurt her. we wiggle it, and nothing. is it normal for it to be red and swollen? the other side is red but not swollen as the other. and how old are they when they shed their last set of teeth. sorry so long, and so many questions. thank you so much for your help in the past and now.

Answer
Pigs have three sets of teeth in their lives. By the time they are age 2 to 2.5, they should have all their final, adult teeth.

Dental problems are not uncommon in pigs. The most common problem is infection and abscess. Healthy gums are pink, very pale or very red gums might signal a problem.

Swelling is usually a bad sign, especially if it's in the gum around the base of a tusk or tooth, or on the outside of the jaw. In a young pig, it's most likely an infection or abscess. In older pigs, it may be oral cancer. I personally am not aware of any pot-bellied pigs that had impacted adult molars, but it is a possibility, and it may take an x-ray to determine that.

It's certainly possible that the swelling is connected to the tooth grinding. One may have directly caused the other. You mention that it doesn't seem to hurt her when you push on the swelling, but it's possible that it's bothering her in other ways.

It's difficult to perform a dental exam on pigs because they have deep mouths but shallow jaws that don't open very wide. Usually, the pig must be sedated for a good look. If the problem is obvious, like on the outside of the jaw or near the front of the mouth, the vet may be able to do a visual exam without anesthesia. There's always a risk with anesthesia, but many problems are fixable if caught early enough.

If the tooth grinding doesn't stop or decrease, and the swelling doesn't go away, piggy will need to see the vet. There's a list of vets that see pot0bellied pigs at www.farec.org