Tusk removal

Re: Tusk removal

Phil Elkins — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:00:26 GMT

Finally a climas to the boar situation - when my colleague visited the boar, as suspected it was the deciduous canines in question. Funnily enough, they had fallen out earlier that week so no work was done! Never mind!

Re: Tusk removal

Phil Elkins — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:39:42 GMT

Well everyone, today is the day. I filled the back of my ute (I still want to call it a truck) with anything and everything that I considered may be useful short of a vet nurse and a pig expert!

I arrived at the smallholders with the azaperone bottle out and ready, walked over to the area where the young boy was and saw him there staring at me. He had a look of fear in his eyes and so the stare off began. We sat patiently eyeing each other up for 10 minutes while I waited for the owner to arrive. We both knew something magical was about to happen.

And it did. My mobile rang. It was the office informing me that the owner has broken down and has had to reschedule for next week. The pig smiled at me. It was a double victory for him as I am off work next week and travelling around the South Island, and so the dubious honour will be passed to a colleague - I shall pass on all the advice here.

So unfortunately an anticlimax was reached and I came back to the clinic saddened and a beaten man.

Thanks for all your help anyway.

Re: Tusk removal

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:17:47 GMT

Keeping the pig still is the problem with regional blocks. I use IM Azaperone followed by IV Ketamine with good results.

Re: Tusk removal

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:40:49 GMT

PPS

Hmm, retrograde mental block not so easy though. And orthograde mandibular block probably very tricky.

And what are the self-mutilation hazards if you did all four jaws together?

Perhaps better to forget that idea.

All right, I'll shut up now.

Evelyn

Re: Tusk removal

Phil Elkins — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:38:40 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]

Has anyone tried a retrograde infraorbital block in the pig? That would avoid the need for full GA for canine extraction.

[/quote]

Presumably you are still considering sedation Evelyn! It may not feel the tooth but it'll still see you coming with a box of tricks!!

Re: Tusk removal

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:35:05 GMT

Has anyone tried a retrograde infraorbital block in the pig? That would avoid the need for full GA for canine extraction.

I'm just looking at a couple of pigs' skulls now (alas, no tusks), and it looks as if it should be easy. Ah, how very easy it is to say that.

Evelyn

Re: Tusk removal

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:27:16 GMT

Well, this is our chance for a little original clinico-anatomical research. We need a few boars' whole tusks that we can section to see where the pulp comes to.

Who can help?

Re: Tusk removal

andrew dobson — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:43:41 GMT

To be honest I cant remember. Pig was snoring in lateral recumbency. I had my nurse with me (and anaesthetic machine etc.!) who held the pigs mouth open and extended the tongue slightly. I then placed wire arond the tusk, put my foot on its neck and sawed, just like de-horning. The saw found a natural place to rest. I think they may hace bee about 1 or maybe more cm long as i left. For safety, I think rasping them to round them off (tops as well) was just as important as sawing. There was no bleeding from the tooth - not sure if this was cautery from the sawing or that I didn't enter pulp cavity, sorry). I didn't give AB's or NSAID's but did advise owner to report next day and she called to say pig perfectly normal.

Maybe I'm just the jammiest git alive :-). I would suggest giving LA AB if you worried and leaving oral NSAID's for owners (suggestions on what to use for this welcome). Prob most important thing is that, if after leaving a long enough time for sedative to work, if it's not asleep enough, leave it and come back another day. I hear lots of horror stories about incremental doses of sedatives killing pigs.

Good luck!

Re: Tusk removal

Phil Elkins — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:05:13 GMT

Wow, as Arlo said in an email to me, I thought tusk remioval was going to be a little obscure for the currently growing number of people here but how wrong I was!

First of all the client wants this done as they are a smallholder seconded to a centre for adults with learning disabilities and so safety is paramount.

Secondly, as I am in truly rural New Zealand, with no sight of a pig anaesthetist, I suspect no matter how hard I try, i can not persuade or justify the risk to the pig of GA and full tusk removal if there is another ethical alternative.

If these are deciduous as I suspect and will come out relatively easily as per deciduous canines in the canine(!) then that provides me with the short term option (obviously following stresnil or a midazolam comnination). As to what happens long term, I suspect the option favoured by the owner will be regular trimming.

At 2-3mm from the gum line, what is the chance of opening the pulp cavity and all the prementioned sequalae? Would ity be safer and probably equally effective to leave say 1cm of tooth?

I'm there early next week so shall let you all know what and how I do!

Phil

Re: Tusk removal

andrew dobson — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:22:39 GMT

I was recently asked to do this in an adult pot bellied pig (not sure if this helps with your young one) and had much the same reaction! I just gave the pig a dose of Stresnil deep i/m, did another call and returned an hour later and used a wire saw to remove the crowns (I guess 2-3mm from the gum line as previously said). An equine tooth rasp will smooth off any sharp edges. I needed someone to hold the lips out of the way of the wire but was surprisingly easy and done in 10 minutes!

The owners wanted it de-tusked because of damage to fencing and potential damage to children but after discussing risks of GA and cost etc they are happy to have the tusks trimmed every 6 months. Why are the owners of your pig wanting this done?

Andy

Re: Tusk removal

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:53:13 GMT

There are still practitioners who trim off the tusks. There are usually two resons for this 1. avoid GA in the pig malignant hyperthermia weight etc 2. the surgery is invasive.

I only do the surgery on immature pigs in situations where the pig may injure an onlooker. I usually do it between 3-6 months of age, and have done so for >40 years.

Re: Tusk removal

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:47:26 GMT

Thanks.

Is this pretty standard practice now, or is my 35-years-out-of-date concept of tooth cutting still done?

Evelyn

Re: Tusk removal

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:09:43 GMT

My description is for the permenant canines. The temporary ones are like eye teeth and are easily removed as for dogs.

Re: Tusk removal

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:05:38 GMT

Wow.

I must have been composing my reply while Rob Furneaux was sending his. So I stand corrected.

What do you do about a boar's permanent canines, Rob? Or has the need not arisen?

Re: Tusk removal

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:54:00 GMT

I suggest you consult whoever was thoughtless enough to book this in without asking you!

Joking apart: I have forgotten almost everything about pig medicine so I am quite prepared for a pig specialist to jump in and tell me I'm talking nonsense. Which will be fine.

I suspect, being realistic, that you are expected to sedate the boar a bit and then either smash the teeth with bolt cutters or saw them through at gum level....... either way creating a huge pulp exposure and a chronic pulpitis and a chronic periapical infection, maybe an osteomyelitis and certainly chronic pain.

If I'm wrong, and sawing the tooth crown off (textbook says "2-3mm above gum line") does not expose or approach the pulp, I stand corrected. But definitely use a saw (tungsten carbide wire or diamond coated may be best). Not any sort of power saw, unless you can also arrange continuous copious cooling. Any trace of blood from the pulp, or pink spot showing, then a course of suitable antibiotic is indicated at the very least.

These will be deciduous teeth. The permanent canines erupt at 9-10 months of age. Once they get long enough you'll be asked to cut them again. The canine teeth of the pig have open "roots" and are continuously growing throughout life. So you may be asked to cut them every six months.

I will just about admit the possibility that the continuously-growing nature of the tooth means the pulp has super powers of healing and resistance to inflammation and bacterial migration, but I rather doubt it.

If the permanent tooth does not re-grow after you have cut it, it's because you have created a pulpitis and periapical inflammation and killed the tooth. I see this often in rabbit incisors that people have been "cutting" with nail clippers.

Any large animal practitioners out there who are going to tell me I'm wrong?

To truly de-tusk a boar, you would have to extract the tooth entirely and lightly curette the deep part of the alveolus to ensure that the tooth did not grow again. This would be a surgical procedure under general anaesthesia and I'm sure it is not what is expected.

Phil, please tell us what you do eventually, because this is quite an interesting question and goes beyond your immediate problem.

Re: Tusk removal

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:40:29 GMT

I do this surgery under general anaesthetic.

The tusts of a young boar have soft growth tips at the base of the roots. If these are not extracted, these germinal centres will grow a new tooth.

The root of the tooth in the maxilla courses horizontally dorsal to the premolars. A defined ridge will be seen where the root lies, not dis-similar to that seen/ felt with the roots of a dog canine tooth. The root length varies with breed but may be between 30-50mm long

I use an osteotome or chisel and do a lateral plate exposure. The root is often pulp like and if fractured tears longitudinally into splintered segments. Total removal will leave a clean trough. Ensure that the root cap is removed.

The mandibular root courses along the lateral face of the horizontal ramus not dis-similar to the maxillary root. It may be 40-50 mm long. I remove it in a similar fashion to the maxillary root.

I leave the wounds open to heal by secondary intention.