As with the toenails because the grazing is much softer in our pastures the teeth are not naturally ground down by the amount of grit and hard forage in the diet. Occasionally there will be the odd alpaca whose teeth overgrow and it is sometimes necessary to grind the teeth of the alpacas back to normal to avoid the onset of any feeding difficulties. This job is one of the services offered by the shearer and for those people who have a phobia for dentistry it is well worth the uptake.
Mature males develop two sharp fighting teeth around their third year, which it is advisable to cut using surgical wire to avoid them inflicting damage whilst contesting for supremacy amongst other males.
