The principal dental morphological difference between marsupials and placental species is the relative shape of the external part of the molar. The other dental form found in common herbivores is lophodont dentition. Lophodont dentition has parallel ridges that course across the entire coronal width from lateral to medial. Lophodont dentition is found in the order Perrisodactyla, as well as the families Tapiridae and Rhinocerotidae (the tapir and the rhinoceros).
It is impractical, though possible, to develop successful techniques for orthodontics, restoratives, crown coverage, and possibly bridge procedures in wildlife dentistry, but many oncology cases present unique therapeutic challenges that can be managed with diagnostic and therapeutic help of oncology specialists.
Periodontal Disease
Most forms of periodontal disease seen in domestic animals can be found in exotic animals, with treatment similar to that performed in humans. Primates display periodontal disease very similar to humans. Extensive periodontitis with advanced tooth‐supporting bone loss can also be severe in non‐primates, especially so in orangutans, where it is accompanied with the usual symptoms of bacterial infection and general malaise. Periodontal therapy is diverse, ranging from simple prophylaxis to advanced surgical gingival flap procedures with bone augmentation, lateral sliding flaps, and advanced procedures that also include surgical exodontia. Cases of gingival hyperplasia can be treated with either electro‐surgery or sharp dissection.
Many of the anatomical peculiarities and proposed treatments in this book may not be found elsewhere in print, as they are the result of an accumulation of 50 years of personal hands‐on treatment and personal experience while working on thousands of animals among hundreds of species. We still have much to learn, and with dedication we will continue to improve our ability to help the many species that cannot help themselves as we provide better oral health, comfort and increased longevity in animals worldwide. This book provides a foundation of information. We hope that future contributors will add to this information in an ever‐expanding source of information that will serve to help improve and maintain improved oral health in the many species of animals throughout the world.
Finally, due to the constraints of length within the Table of Contents, it has not been possible to list the most common (but not inexhaustible) 352 species found in animal sanctuaries and zoos throughout the world. However, these are listed in the index and should be easily identifiable, helping all readers to identify the myriad of animals they may be called upon to examine and treat.
Peter P. Emily, DDS, Certification Periodontics, Endodontics, and Oral Surgery, Hon. Diplomate American Veterinary Dental College
1 History of Veterinary Dentistry, Including Development of Oral and Dental Treatment of Wild and Zoo, Safari Park and Refuge Animals
Colin E. Harvey
Surgery and Dentistry School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
This review is limited to a narrow definition of dentistry – conditions affecting the teeth, periodontium and jaws, and treatment of these structures. Mention of the major infectious oral diseases that affect wild, as well as domestic herbivores, such as viral stomatitis for example, are not included.
Veterinary dental history can be considered as having two major periods, the first in which the horse was the focus of most attention, because of its importance for transportation, mechanical power, military use and sport. The jaws and teeth were important because bits are used to control speed and direction of motion in horses. The internal combustion engine was invented in the mid‐1850s; by the early 1990s, this form of transportation and mechanical power was rapidly displacing the horse and, as a result, equine dentistry no longer has the critical societal importance it once had.
The second period is ongoing, and is largely based on application of human dental procedures to pet domestic animals. As experience with these procedures, initially in dogs, grew, they started to be applied to non‐domesticated species by a pioneering group of human dentists and veterinarians. Experience with dental treatment of food animals is largely limited to management of tooth loss in sheep.
We only have a very incomplete glimpse of what was known about animal dentistry in the ancient world, because much of the records have been lost. The fire in the largest library of the ancient world, at Alexandria in 48 BCE, was catastrophic – 700 000 volumes were lost.
The ancient Greeks produced several important veterinary manuscripts, such as “The Veterinary Art, Inspection of Horses,” by Simon of Athens (430 BCE), which includes an accurate description of eruption times and aging of horses by examination of the teeth. Aristotle's “History of Animals'” (333 BCE) also includes a section on aging by teeth of horses, and comments on periodontal diseases in horses.
The Roman Empire produced some practical veterinary material, though much of it was copied from Greek sources. Around 400 CE, Chiron wrote a series of books on animals; Book VI includes material on tumors of the jaw, diseases of the teeth and management of fractured jaws, and Book VIII includes a description of the dentition. “The Veterinary Art” by Vegetius (450–500 CE) is the major Roman veterinary contribution; it describes use of splints for managing broken jaws, and aging of horses by teeth; this manuscript was translated and printed as a book one thousand years later, in 1528 – one of the first veterinary books printed.
Written c550–580 CE, originally in Sanskrit, the work of Ippocras was translated into Greek or Arabic in the ninth century, then from Arabic to Latin – it is now known to exist only as a fifteenth‐century manuscript in Latin; it includes a section on determining the age of the horse by examining the teeth, and vices and bit injuries, also an operation for “chesel,” which is extraction or shortening of the tushes (canines) and corner incisors to accommodate the bit.
With the degeneration of the Greek and Roman empires, the focus of learning shifted eastward to the Byzantine Empire. In about 950 CE, the “Hippiatrika” was written by order of Emperor Constantine VII. This tome contained all Greek and Latin veterinary manuscripts in Constantinople, collected and arranged; it includes a section on Dentition. It was translated by Ruellius from Greek to Latin and printed in 1530 in Paris.
The fascination of Arabs with horses was recognized in some important manuscripts; one, written about 1100 CE by Ibn‐al‐Awan in Spain, includes a section on dentition. Around 1200 CE, Abou Bekr produced “The Naceri” in Egypt; Book 11 includes a section on dentition and dental operations.
Beyond the translation of ancient sources, there was very little real progress for about one thousand years, until, starting in the thirteenth century in Italy, ancient manuscripts translated into Italian also began to include personal observations of the translator. Ruffus wrote “Equine Medicine” in 1250, and Rusius wrote “Hippiatria” about 70 years later; the latter includes sections on dentition and descriptions of lampas, cutting the lip to accommodate the bit, and an “operation on the teeth to improve the temper” (extraction of lower canines and corner incisors). Later, came the equine anatomical masterpieces of Leonardo da Vinci and Ruini. Though these were important contributions to the veterinary knowledge base, there was little that was new in the field of clinical veterinary dentistry.
Northern Europe was largely an intellectual backwater regarding veterinary medicine until late in the eighteenth century. Available written materials include an early manuscript written in Britain in about 1000 CE entitled “The Medicine of Quadrupeds,” which is largely a compilation from earlier Roman manuscripts. As an example of what now seems ridiculous, from the 1723 edition of a book originally published in 1610: “A horse may have pain in his teeth through diverse occasions, as partly by the descent of gross humors from the head down to the teeth and gums.”