Piglet dental procedures and ongoing dental health management in pigs raise important welfare questions that have driven research into alternatives to routine teeth clipping.
Pig dental welfare encompasses both the debate over routine piglet teeth processing and the management of naturally occurring dental disease in older animals. The evidence base for routine teeth clipping has been questioned - properly managed litters with adequate suckling access rarely require intervention. Where dental procedures are necessary, grinding under appropriate conditions is preferable to clipping. In adult pigs, dental disease is likely more prevalent and painful than recognised, and developing practical dental examination protocols for routine use would improve welfare. Pain recognition tools such as the Pig Grimace Scale are increasingly applicable to dental pain identification.