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Did you know that dental care is a critical component of lemurs’ overall health and wellness? It’s so important, in fact, that every adult lemur at the DLC receives regular oral examinations and dental cleanings. Some lemurs are seen biannually; others, such as Endora the aye-aye, are seen as frequently as once every six to 10 weeks!
Can you give $10 to help us purchase a new dental machine for our lemurs’ oral care? At 15 years old, the DLC’s existing dental station is at the end of its life cycle and no longer capable of providing routine and emergency dental care for our colony of more than 200 lemurs.
Your gift makes a difference! A new dental machine costs $8,000 to $10,000—an unanticipated financial need, particularly after a turbulent year that included an $800,000 loss of revenue due to the COVID-related closure of our tour programs and summer camps. All funds raised through the 10 for Teeth campaign (now through July 16) will help offset the cost of the new machine, and your gift at any level will make a BIG difference to us!
Using a specialized dental machine, the DLC’s veterinarians provide regular oral examinations and dental cleanings, under general anesthesia, at least biannually for all adult lemurs in our colony. Here, an aye-aye’s teeth are pictured before and after a routine dental cleaning and trim.
Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lemurs
Animals can be very good at hiding pain, making preventative care and regular check-ups especially necessary. “People often underestimate the importance of oral health care in animals,” says DLC veterinarian Laura Ellsaesser, D.V.M. “Dental disease, when it develops, can be very painful if not treated appropriately; and lemurs are particularly stoic about pain. Prevention goes a long way.”
Our veterinarians strive to identify and treat—and, ideally, prevent—issues before they become so advanced that the lemur experiences adverse effects like sensitivity, loose teeth, inflamed gums, and difficulty chewing. A healthy mouth helps make for a healthy lemur!
Preventative care: Just like humans, lemurs develop tartar on their teeth. Tartar build-up can lead to gum infections, loss of teeth, and other serious problems—including infections that can spread through the body and affect the heart, liver, and kidneys. Periodontal disease may also cause difficulty chewing, mouth pain, and weight loss.
They key to managing dental disease is prevention, and a dental machine is critical for routine scaling of lemurs’ teeth to remove plaque and tartar before it progresses to periodontal disease. After scaling, the teeth are polished to create a smooth surface on the tooth, which helps prevent plaque from easily sticking to the enamel.
Emergency care: Occasionally, teeth may need to be removed because they’re abscessed or broken. Here a dental machine is equally crucial, enabling our veterinarians to extract a tooth safely and reliably by sectioning the tooth into multiple parts and removing each root individually so as not to injure the surrounding bone.
Routine maintenance: Aye-ayes’ teeth are vastly different from other lemurs’. Instead of a full set of multipurpose teeth, an aye-aye has specialized rodent-like incisors that grow continuously throughout her life. Some aye-ayes, like 37-year-old Endora, have significant overbites (malocclusions) that cause their teeth not to wear appropriately. Endora has regular appointments with the DLC’s veterinarians, who rely on our dental machine to trim her incisors every six to 10 weeks before they become painful.
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Aye-ayes’ teeth grow approximately one millimeter per week. Older aye-ayes’ teeth often don’t wear properly, and require regular trims. Left: Veterinarian Laura Ellsaesser cleans Ozma’s teeth during one of the aye-aye’s routine dental visits. Right: Veterinary technician Catherine Ostrowski and veterinarian Bobby Schopler carefully measure Ozma’s incisors before trimming.
Stress-free TLC
A trip to the dentist can be scary, so we use positive reinforcement training to keep exams stress-free!
Poe is one of our oldest aye-ayes, so his teeth aren’t as strong as our other lemurs’ teeth. His keeper, Danielle, works with him to take regular, close looks at his teeth. If she notices any issues, he can quickly get the TLC he needs, under anesthesia, using our specialized dental machine.
Support the purchase of a new dental system by clicking the links below!
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Learn with Us
In addition to raising money for a new dental machine, this week we’re learning all about lemur teeth! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for fun facts about lemur dentistry, and support the campaign by clicking below!
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Thank You!
All gifts through the links above and below to our Special Gifts donations page between now and the end of the day on Friday, July 16 will go toward this very special purchase at the Duke Lemur Center! All donations are tax-deductible.
If you have questions about this or other fundraising opportunities, please contact our Mary Paisley at mary.paisley@duke.edu.
