Dental problems in pigs — particularly in breeding animals and older individuals — are a significant but under-researched welfare issue. Routine teeth clipping in piglets and dental disease in sows represent two distinct welfare problems requiring different interventions.
Pig dental welfare encompasses two distinct problems across different life stages. In piglets, routine teeth clipping imposes acute pain on animals within hours of birth — a procedure that welfare science increasingly identifies as avoidable through alternative management of litter size and suckling supervision. In older breeding animals, dental pathology accumulates silently: pain from periodontal disease or fractured teeth is expressed through subtle changes in feeding behaviour that are difficult to detect in group housing. The connection between dental pain and reduced feed intake in sows has direct welfare consequences — nutritional compromise in late gestation affects both sow and piglet welfare. Integrating dental assessment into routine sow health checks, adopting grinding rather than clipping for needle teeth, and providing analgesia where procedures are necessary represent achievable welfare improvements.