VISITING THE DENTIST is a fact of life that is pretty much impossible to avoid.

That seems to hold true even for members of the animal kingdom.

This is Kelly the giraffe from Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling in Scotland. She had been suffering from a dental problem that had stopped her from chewing her food.

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It was thought that the issue came from one of the animal’s molars. Before carrying out the procedure they had to x-ray Kelly to find out the extent of the problem.

Andrew Milligan / PA Wire Andrew Milligan / PA Wire / PA Wire

Kelly required sedation during the operation,which can be particularly dangerous for giraffes due to their unusual physiology.

Speaking about the operation, Ian Rodger, a vet at the zoo, said, “food was becoming trapped in the gap between the teeth. The right name for that is a diastema and there were two on the lower left jaw, and I picked and cleaned and flushed them out and explored the depth of them.”

PA Wire / Andrew Milligan PA Wire / Andrew Milligan / Andrew Milligan

Kelly recovery was monitored throughout yesterday and she was eventually returned back to the enclosure she shares with the safari park’s four other female giraffes.

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