A Royal Air Force dentist from Batley, West Yorkshire, was surprised to learn that he would be treating military working dogs as well as NATO troops during his tour of duty at Kandahar airfield this summer. Squadron Leader Stuart Marshall, 37, was deployed to Afghanistan three weeks ago and has since repaired the teeth of two military dogs and is scheduled to perform a root canal on a third later this week.

Marshall said that the new work was ‘brilliant’ and added that it was ‘really interesting and nice to be doing something different. Dogs are really important out here and they do a lot of work. If they have a problem with their teeth then they can’t work, and their condition can quickly worsen.’ Comparing the two species of patient, he said that ‘It is easier treating dogs than humans because they are always asleep. The teeth are bigger and the roots longer but the dentistry is the same.

Dogs are trained to detect Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) and are used to clear routes, buildings and vehicles, so they need to be focused on their work. A five-year-old Belgium Malinois named Zino was becoming distracted by dental problems so his handler, Craig Vantonver, took him to see Squadron Leader Marshall. The treatment was successful; Vantonver said that ‘Zino should be back to his usual self within a week, and we hope to have him back doing detection work about one week after that.’

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