Open REALLY wide

We've all known people who just won't go to the dentist...even when they're in pain and chewing aspirin and using baby-teething medicine to stanch the pain...even when they can't even chew pudding without howling in pain...even when their mouth looks like a handful of Corn Nuts (below), they will put it off until it's almost as painful as sitting through a Breaking Bad marathon, and then they go.

So imagine how Madhubala felt, and she WANTED to go, but couldn't get there. I guess you should know that Madhubala is an elephant, a 16-year-old elephant in Pakistan. She had the misery for years, with a dental infection and pain from a broken tusk. Last week, relief at last! She got the treatment she needed - and get this - she was under standing sedation.

Maybe my dentist should try that with me!

Madhubala is one of four African elephants who are being treated in Karachi, Pakistan by eight members from a global animal welfare group called Four Paws. You might have heard of their good work before. In 2020 they moved "the loneliest elephant in the world" - Kaavan - to Cambodia from Islamabad.

It took an order by the Sindh High Court last year in Karachi to allow Four Paws to come in and see about the health needs of the animals. Local animal rights activists had gone to court with concerns about the welfare of the big critters.

 

Madhubala was named after a famous Indian actress. The doctors at the Karachi Zoo had to tape her eyes shut and tie her legs to metal side supports to keep her supported during treatment and recovery.

 

With drills and heavy surgical tools, the veterinarians extracted her broken tusk in bits and pieces.

"Due to long-term inflammation the tissue is so fragile and thin it's not possible to take it out at once; it is breakable," said Dr Marina Ivanova.

Before they started to work, the surgeons did an endoscopy, showing the inside part of the bad tusk to be just over 12 inches in length.

"It's now important for us to focus on postsurgical treatment. The removal of the tusk would open a big wound, so this wound needs daily cleaning," added Dr Ivanova.

The sedation went well, which was good. No one wants to deal with an elephant resisting dental work during a six-hour procedure, and stomping out of the operatory.

"Today we are happy to start the first unique procedure at the Zoo in standing position, not in sleeping or complete anesthesia, as it could be risky for the elephant and could be fatal, which we don't want," team leader Dr Aamir Khalil said.

No word on whether the dentists gave Madhubala a lollipop for being a good patient.