Senior veterinary officer Taina Strike shares how London Zoo cares for the oral well being of its animals and the most typical dental points she encounters.
Please introduce your self and your background
I’m Dr Taina Strike, senior veterinary officer at ZSL’s conservation zoos – London and Whipsnade – the place I’ve been working for 25 years. I’m a European Board veterinary specialist in zoological medication, and a diplomate in zoo well being administration: the very best specialisation we are able to attain in our discipline.
Are you able to give us an outline of the dental care program at London Zoo?
Dental care at London Zoo is an important a part of our broader healthcare programme, tailor-made to the unimaginable number of dentition in our animals. From the large second incisors of elephants to the tiny tooth combs of lemurs, every species has distinctive dental wants.
Herbivores like rhinos have constantly rising tooth, whereas carnivores like lions depend on sharp canines and our Komodo dragons naturally have iron-reinforced ziphodont dentition!
The veterinary crew works carefully with skilled animal dentists who’ve the specialised expertise and gear to deal with advanced instances, supported by my colleagues, together with Dr Stefan Saverimuttu who leads a lot of our dentistry work on the zoo.
How do you assess an animal’s oral well being, and the way does this differ relying on the animal?
Assessing oral well being in animals is difficult, because it varies drastically by species – you’ll be able to’t ask all of them to go ‘aaaah’! Because of our devoted keepers, veterinary nurses and welfare workers, some animals, like lions and chimpanzees, are educated via constructive reinforcement to open their mouths for inspection… although it does imply going through a lion’s very meaty breath!
For others, like herbivores, small oral apertures make it tough to see their tooth, so basic anesthesia is usually required for a radical examination. Nonetheless, the strategy stays the identical: checking for abnormalities and making certain the tooth are functioning accurately.
The problem lies within the variety of what’s ‘normal’. Many animals have distinctive species diversifications together with the shedding and ahead development of molars, seen in species from wallabies to manatees and elephants.
Are there any animals that require extra specialised care?
Sure, some species do require extra specialised care, particularly these which are both very giant or very small. For instance, the elongated incisors of elephants that we name tusks could require specialised gear simply to carry out a primary dental examine, attributable to their dimension.
However, small species like bush infants and lorises may current challenges when performing extra intricate procedures like endodontics. Every case is exclusive, and we frequently seek the advice of with specialists in each small and huge animal dentistry to supply the absolute best care.
What are a few of the most typical dental points you encounter?
Age performs a giant function – many animals stay for much longer in zoos than within the wild, resulting in vital tooth put on which is frequent in rhinos. Early detection and intervention are paramount focuses for us. Adjusting diets, husbandry and monitoring helps us handle dental put on and forestall problems, making certain animals keep as wholesome as attainable all through their lives.
‘Some animals, like lions and chimpanzees, are educated via constructive reinforcement to open their mouths for inspection’
Being fed the right weight loss program within the zoo can also be essential; traditionally, the widespread observe of feeding primates high-sugar fruits led to dental points. Now at London Zoo, we prioritise feeding greens, which reduces the incidence of calculus buildup and gingivitis.
When it comes to preventative care, how do you preserve the oral well being of the animals?
Food plan choice and proactive surveillance are an important elements. Our devoted diet officer works to supply diets that mimic an animal’s pure weight loss program, which ensures optimum basic well being in addition to encouraging pure put on of the tooth.
Many dental issues in animals are attributable to diminished tooth put on and subsequent overgrowth, however by offering diets carefully aligned with every species’ biology, we are able to minimise the adverse impacts diets can have on oral well being.
In parallel to this, our zookeeping groups carefully monitor meals consumption behaviours, akin to modifications in preferences and modifications in chewing; this implies they’ll promptly flag considerations to the veterinary crew when surprising points come up.
What’s probably the most difficult dental case you may have needed to take care of?
Elephant dentistry is among the many trickiest attributable to sheer dimension and logistics, however white rhinos pose main challenges too. Their huge heads weigh a number of hundred kilograms, and their anatomy tailored to their grazing life-style means their mouths open solely barely. To evaluate their oral well being, they need to first be anaesthetised – no small activity.
As soon as safely sedated, we use hydraulic equipment and stable wood wedges to carry their mouths open simply sufficient to insert an oroscope and huge animal dental instruments; usually simply visualising their tooth requires hydraulic flange spreaders.
We work carefully with specialist veterinary dentists for these tough instances, discovering artistic options to entry and manipulate tooth safely. The mix of dimension, anatomy and crucial precision makes rhino dentistry one of the vital difficult however rewarding features of our work.
What function does know-how play? Are there any specific improvements or developments you may have integrated into your oral care?
Expertise performs a vital function in sustaining top-tier dental take care of our sufferers. One main development has been using transportable intraoral dental radiography, which permits us to diagnose and deal with dental points in each small and huge animals with better precision.
Our latest funding in transportable, full dental suites has additionally been a game-changer, enabling us to deliver complete dental care on to the affected person when wanted.
Dental radiography is quickly turning into the usual of care in veterinary medication, and we use a high-end computed dental radiography system to boost our diagnostic capabilities in small to medium-sized sufferers. For bigger animals, we adapt our normal digital radiography system and use specialised large-animal gear, akin to specialised cameras with lights to see contained in the mouth.
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