Veterinary Dentistry: Treating Aquatic and Zoo Animals. Steph Jaipaul, C'21, and Dr. Laura Braswell

EXPERT IN S I G HT S

Veterinary dentistry: Treating aquatic and zoo animals

S T E P H A N IE JA IPAU L Georgia ’22

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DENTISTS HAVE NO PROBLEM putting their hands in the mouths of human patients. But what about the mouths of tigers, gorillas or beluga whales? This is Dr. Laura Braswell’s job. Dr. Braswell, an Atlanta-based periodontist and Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry, is the staff dentist for Zoo Atlanta and the Georgia Aquarium, where she treats the dentition of a variety of animals.

Dr. Braswell’s interest in working with animals began as a pre-vet undergraduate student at East Carolina University, yet once she found her passion in dentistry, she pursued that field instead. After graduating from the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry in 1982 and practicing general dentistry in North Carolina, she joined the faculty of the now-closed Emory University School of Dentistry in Atlanta.

At Emory, Dr. Braswell studied early onset periodontal diseases — research that led her to the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at the school. The orangutans and gorillas she worked with

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Dr. Laura Braswell

were later moved to Zoo Atlanta, and Dr. Braswell followed her research subjects and treated more animals as the zoo’s staff dentist.

Through her work there, she eventually became staff dentist at the Georgia Aquarium.

Today, Dr. Braswell spends most of her time working on human patients. She works in the zoo or aquarium as needed or when called for an emergency.

“There is never a dull day as a dentist in the Georgia Aquarium or Zoo Atlanta,” she says. “I get to do lots of fun things,” such as treating beluga whales who often have periodontal disease. Dr. Braswell stands in knee-deep water, examines the belugas’ teeth, performs ultrasonic brushing and scaling, and sometimes even extracts teeth. Dolphins and sea lions also get periodontal disease and require similar treatment.

It’s not just the animals Dr. Braswell loves working with. She says the veterinary staff at the aquarium are incredible and in-tune with the animals. “[They] notice if [the animals] change eating patterns or if they are only chewing on one side,” she explains. These observations may indicate the animal is experiencing dental pain, and Dr. Braswell is called in to determine the problem. She spends less time at the zoo in the wintertime as it is too cold to treat the animals, and she only sees the apes on an emergency basis.

However, vets from Zoo Atlanta and zoos around the world send her pictures and radiographs year-round for her opinion.

Beyond the zoo, Dr. Braswell has worked on animals in many different settings, including as a movie consultant at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and at SeaWorld. She especially enjoys working with apes because they often face the same problems as human patients, including genetic periodontal disease. “I treated one ape that had early onset periodontitis and later found his kids and their offspring had it as well,” she says.

Dr. Braswell loves keeping animals healthy and helping to preserve endangered species. She also appreciates that treatment of animals is more preventative than restorative, as vets and dentists try not to change too much of the conditions and tooth wear the animals naturally accrue.

AUGUST 2019

Dr. Braswell stands in knee-deep water, examines the belugas’ teeth, performs ultrasonic brushing and scaling, and sometimes even extracts teeth.

Dolphins and sea lions also get periodontal disease and require similar treatment.

For those interested in going into this field, there is little literature exploring dentistry for animals, especially exotic animals, making it hard to study. Dr. Braswell says she learns from a variety of sources and independent study, including observing animal skulls or reading articles written by big-game hunters who took notes on their prey. Because there are no books on exotic animal dentistry in particular, she hopes to write one when she retires.

Working with animals is worth pursuing if you have a true passion, Dr. Braswell says. “There is no money in it, but it is a lot of fun, especially if you have a love for animals.”

Did you know?

Dr. Braswell shares three fun facts about some of our favorite animals:

“Apes and monkeys’ mouths are more like humans’, so most veterinarians do not treat primates. An exception would be zoo and wildlife veterinary dentists.”

“Otters look cute and snuggly, but they can be dangerous and are known to be quite violent among themselves.”

“Elephants and manatee are distant cousins. Both have teeth that move rostrally (mesially), section [off] and are lost off of this ‘conveyor belt’.”

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