Wild Smile—U of L's Popular Exotic Animal Dentistry Class

Asking someone to clean a polar bear's teeth or pull a lion's tooth might sound like a demented dare, an outrageous insult or perhaps the makings of some kind of twisted reality show.

At the University of Louisville School of Dentistry, it's an elective.

"Exotic Animal Dentistry," a wildly popular course offered each spring to senior dental students and hygiene students, is the only university-based program in the country where students perform procedures on zoo animals.

The brainchild of Tom Clark, a U of L clinical professor of dentistry and long-time zoo consultant, the partnership between the dentistry school and the Louisville Zoo was conceived in response to the way animal care management is evolving.

"The move has been more toward preventative health care for the animals," says Clark , seen to the left treating a polar bear. "Over the years, the zoo has become more and more aware of the value of maintaining an animal's dental health."

Five years ago Clark—who had been consulting at the zoo and treating animals for more than 20 years—was asked if he could devise a program for regular examinations and cleanings. The only problem: "I was just one guy."

The animals are separated into two primary groups—and their exams alternate from year to year. One year, they'll do the carnivores, the next the primates.

But Clark knew where he could find plenty of willing dentists and hygienists. Throughout the years, his students had been fascinated by Clark 's presentations and slide shows on his work at the zoo, something he would do to maintain their enthusiasm for what they were learning.

The presentations were always a big hit. Students would approach Clark after class and beg him to let them come along the next time he went to the zoo.

"They would say, ‘Give me a call. I'll skip class to go,' " Clark laughs.

Clark had his manpower solution if only he could devise a course. Collaborating with the zoo staff, he first decided to make it a senior level class because dental students on the brink of graduation are competent enough to do the kinds of work the animals need.

When Susan Grammer, professor of dental hygiene, heard what Clark was doing she says her reaction was much like Clark's students after one of his slide shows—"I want to go!"

So Clark and Grammer decided to get the hygiene students involved as well.

"Half the class are senior dental students, the other half are senior hygiene students," Grammer says. "We accept 40 students a year, and there's always a waiting list."

The class is broken down into three parts. The first is a lecture series featuring three talks by zoo veterinarians and one by Clark . While the required lectures are at 8 a.m. , attendance is not a problem, Grammer says.

"You know the students are interested when they eagerly attend an 8 a.m. class," she says.

The second part of the course is a behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo, Grammer says. "They get to see the trainers at work, the daily care. It's an opportunity most people will never have."

Clark adds, "The animal trainers at the Louisville Zoo are absolutely on the cutting edge. The degree of interaction and training is just, well, you've got to see it to believe it. And our students see it."

The final requirement of the class is the clinical. That's when the students actually go to the zoo's hospital and treat the animals.

"Students go through school and we beat all of this information into them and a lot of times they lose sight of why they have to learn this and why they have to learn that," Clark says. "They get into that venue and you can just see the wheels start to turn. It's a really neat experience."

For Betty Ashley, now a dental hygienist in Anchorage , Ky. , who took the class in spring 2002, it was an emotional experience.

"There was a moment in the operating room when it all kind of hit me, when I realized how fortunate I was to have this opportunity" recalls Ashley, an animal lover who owns eight cats and two black Labradore retrievers. "I teared up. It was such a moving experience."

Every zoo animal gets a full, stem-to-stern physical examination and work-up at least once every two years, Clark says.

"For animals with teeth, we become part of the process."

As the students clean the teeth and check for problems, veterinarians and specialists are performing examinations and procedures on the rest of the animal.

"There's a lot going on," says Roy Burns, staff veterinarian at the Louisville Zoo. "When an animal is anesthetized, we like to accomplish as much as we can."

This Cuban crock got his choppers checked.

The animals are separated into two primary groups—carnivores (big cats, polar bears and other meat-eating critters) and primates (gorillas, orangutans, monkeys, etc.)—and their exams alternate from year to year. One year they'll do the carnivores, the next the primates.

"Over the years, we've had a few reptiles like crocodiles," Clark says. "We've never had to deal with snakes."

While dental morphology—the shape of the teeth—is widely different even within a given species depending on the size and age of the individual, dental physiology—the most basic functions—is similar, Clark says.

"The basic guiding principle if there is one is that principles are principles because they're principles," Clark says. "Physiology is physiology. Given that framework, the interspecies differences don't amount to a whole lot."

And one common thread zoo officials have noticed over the five years of the course is the improved quality of life for the animals due to the ongoing dental care.

"The idea is to maintain the function of the teeth," Clark says, "which is very important to the animal's quality of life. We're not so much concerned with appearance. I'm sure the animal isn't either."

Reflections

The quality of experience for the students is immeasurable, Clark says. During a recent examination of a polar bear, he tried to bring that point home to his students.

"How many people live in the United States ? What, 280 million of us? How many have ever been close enough to touch a polar bear? How many have actually cleaned the teeth of a polar bear?

"Until you've actually touched the fur of a polar bear or seen the three different levels of fur on a big cat, you just can't imagine what it's like to be this close to these animals."

To pass the "Exotic Animal Dentistry" course, each student must write a paper about how the experience impacted him or her personally.

"They're often surprisingly touching," Grammer says. "A student you would have least expected—one who may have just been standing around acting uninterested—will write this insight-ful paper about how much it meant to them."

Clark shared some of the reflections with the members of the zoo staff during a recent luncheon.

"We were really impressed with the kind of impact the class was having on these students," Burns says.

"That's one of the most enjoyable aspects of the course for us. It's an opportunity to see what we do on a daily basis through someone else's eyes. It reminds us of how special our jobs are."

The course also gives the zoo an opportunity to touch a large group of future professionals with a profound conservation ethic, Burns adds.

"A big part of our mission is to better connect people to the planet," he says. "These are people who are going to go on in life with a great appreciation for the importance of both taking care of the planet and those we share it with."