malocclusion in young boar

[leebee]

I have a 4 month old boar who is going in to the vet´s tonight for teeth trimming. It started with an all-over check-up about a month ago, where Dr. N noticed that his teeth were "off". They don´t line up. This causes one of the front teeth to have a little barb on one side, a small piece that grows longer because it´s not being worn down. It wasn´t very bad a month ago, so I was advised to keep my eye on him and bring him back in a couple of months, unless it got worse. He checked the molars with an otoscope (a cursory check) and said the back teeth didn´t look right either.

It has gotten much worse - his front teeth are very long and the barb is more like a dagger. It seems quite painful. I tried to get a picture, but wasn´t able to. I´ll try again tonight, before they´re trimmed.

He´s always been a drooler, but he´s a PEW, so I thought he was just messy and I could see it easier because of the white chin. His drooling has gotten worse, too. He´s still eating and gaining weight, but not at the rate he was gaining before. I´m thinking that could be attributed to either his eating being slowed because of his teeth, or the fact that he is 4 months old, and his growing is beginning to slow. It´s hard to know, because he´s so young. He´s a big pig lengthwise, but slim and not heavy in the least.

I was checking out the malocclusion page on Guinea Lynx, and all the chin-sling information. Would that be an option? I´m assuming this is due to some genetic factor, and it will be a problem throughout his life. I´m wondering, since his bite if off center, if the chin sling would help him support his jaw.

He´s gotten great care his entire life (born at Teresa´s and then to my house), so it´s nothing that he´s lacking nutritionally or that he didn´t have access to hay for a while.

Any ideas?

[Lynx]

That would be great if you could get a picture. It sounds like it is very clear what is happening and might help someone else in the same circumstances.

I´m impressed with how observant your vet is and glad this was caught.

I wish you much luck with getting this under control. Yes, I´m betting the chin-sling might help you.

[pinta]

It depends on what is causing the problem. If his jaw is misaligned and the teeth are growing normally otherwise, then it could help. If the teeth are growing in misaligned it might not help beyond keeping the the molars in close enough contact for them to be ground down before they get out of control.

Essentially it is a support device to help with jaw muscles that have weakened(TMJ). There are 2 little pockets on it for extra pads to deal with jaws that only need help on one side. The pads can help manipulate the jaw back into position.

My animal physical therapist felt it could definitely help one of my boars whose jaw was misaligned. She could manipulate it back into position but it would slip out very easily. The pads used only on the weak side helped keep the jaw in position. Unfortunately he died of heart problems before we could completely solve his misalignment problem via Chin-Sling.