Military working dog receives historic, career-saving root canal

Published Aug. 17, 2011
By Steve Pivnick
81st Medical Group Public Affairs

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- A team from the 81st Dental Squadron recently performed a root canal on a valued member of the 81st Security Forces Squadron -- military working dog "Ziko."

Veterinarian Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Joseph Harre, 81st Medical Support Squadron, oversaw the approximately two-hour procedure as second-year endodontics residents Majs. (Drs) Arezoo Barani and Rhett Casper and dental technicians Airman 1st Class Jason Rodriguez, Staff Sgt. Heather Muller and Tech. Sgt. Marcus McQuaig treated the 10-yearold canine.

Dr. Harre explained Ziko also had a root canal in 2003.

"It's important to try to save the tooth so he can continue to work, especially since it was one of his canines, which is a main gripping tooth."

Dr. Harre said the security force military working dogs normally have dental checks annually or as needed. The squadron's dog handlers determined there was a problem because Ziko was not biting and performing as he should which led to the dental work.

"Without the root canal, his effectiveness would definitely be reduced," the veterinarian added.

Col. (Dr.) Brian Bergeron, 81st DS endodontics residency program director, also was present. He commented, "This tooth had received a root canal previously several years prior for unknown reasons. Upon radiographic inspection following general anesthesia (dogs don't cooperate for dental x-rays), it was apparent that the root canal had been poorly done originally, likely leading to a lowgrade bacterial infection and chronic painful inflammation at the end of the root. We retreat and re-accomplish root canals routinely for various
reasons in humans, but almost never in dogs."

Dr. Bergeron continued, "This 'canine' tooth is critical as the cornerstone of the mouth and particularly in a military working dog that often needs to be able to both intimidate and attack if ecessary. Routinely, abscessed teeth with previous root canals would be extracted but 'canine' teeth in German sheppards can be almost 2½ inches long, with two-thirds of that length in bone. The surgery to remove the tooth could be debilitating to the animal versus a routine tooth extraction. As a result, we decided to retreat and redo this particular dog's root canal. This root canal retreatment is so uncommon for dogs it was the first such procedure ever accomplished at Keesler."

Ziko's handler is Staff Sgt. Jose Orama, but Staff Sgt. Nicholas Ford, another dog handler, was present during the procedure. He noted that Keesler's MWDs have to be "dual-purpose" and are used for attacking and detection. Sergeant Ford said that although Ziko has recovered from the root canal, the security forces squadron is in the process of "adopting him out" because of his age and loss of aggression since the procedure. Sergeant Ford noted there already are candidates --former handlers--lined up to adopt him.