In the wild, these teeth are used to severely or mortally wound an opponent by cutting the jugular vein or the testicles. These teeth can be removed to prevent males from injuring each other during playing and fighting and to prevent males from injuring females during breeding. Some males will grab the ears of females with their mouth while breeding. This can result in cuts and scars on the female. Llamas and alpacas have two or three pairs of deciduous premolars on the top and one or two pairs of on the bottom.
Premolars are the back teeth or cheek teeth closer to the front of the mouth than the molars.
Premolars will have a deciduous or baby tooth which falls out before the permanent one erupts and molars will not. Molars first appear as permanent teeth. There are one or two pairs of permanent premolars on both the bottom and the top which come in at 3.5 to 5 years. The permanent premolars are premolars number 3 and 4 out of four. These are the two premolars which are closest to the molars.