ABSTRACT
Minipigs are well suited for oral research. First, the size of their oral apparatus is almost ideal for the use of standard clinical treatments for humans, for example dental implants. Second, there are some remarkable convergences between all pigs of the genus Sus and higher primates in the form and function of the jaws, presumably the result of convergent adaptive evolution for an omnivorous diet. These similarities make the minipig the most relevant model for human feeding outside of nonhuman primates.
