- An elderly elephant in Thailand has a new lease on life
after a vet fitted the animal with custom-made dentures, a newspaper reported
today.
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- Morakot, an 80-year-old elephant in captivity at a park
in the western province of Kanchanaburi, had been unable to chew her food
because she had lost her teeth, the Bangkok Post quoted Dr Somsak Jitniyom
as saying.
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- Kept alive with injected saline solution, vitamins and
antibiotics, she had become so weak she had collapsed four times and needed
to be supported by a sling of chains hung from a tree, he said.
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- Elephants have four sets of teeth in a lifetime, but
after they lose their last molar they cannot chew properly and often die
from malnutrition or starvation.
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- Somsak fashioned a U-shaped denture about 6in wide and
6in long from stainless steel, silicone and plastic. It was fitted while
she was under sedation.
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- He could not say if anyone else has previously made dentures
for elephants, although animal dentists have fitted replacement tusks on
the beasts.
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- ©2004 Scotsman.com
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- http://www.news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2380577
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