THE TEAM
Dr. Peter Kertesz is a practising Dental Surgeon in Central London. Qualified at King's College Medical and Dental School, London in 1969 as a Bachelor of Dental Surgery, University of London and Licentiate of Dental Surgery, Royal College of Surgeon of England.
In 2003 he was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons for special services to veterinary science and the veterinary profession. He is the only Dental Surgeon who has ever had the honour to have received such an award.
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He has been involved in veterinary dental care since 1978 and founded ZOODENT International in 1985. He is the dental consultant to the International Zoo Veterinary Group and had been dental consultant to the Zoological Society of London for over 36 years. Peter Kertesz is the author of "A Colour Atlas of Veterinary Dentistry and Oral Surgery" which is the only book to thoroughly analyse and illustrate the dental needs and treatment of wild animals. He has also published numerous articles on the subject and lectured worldwide.
Dental treatment on zoo animals is a true team effort. In every case, each member of the team plays an essential and vital role to ensure the smooth progress of the operation.
Dental nurses experienced in the dental care of wild animals assist with the operations, which considerably reduces the anaesthetic time.
A Technical Assistant is used to help with the large pieces of specialised equipment, especially with elephant surgery.
ZOODENT International works in close co-operation with the veterinary surgeons of the establishments being visited who are responsible for the welfare and anaesthesia of the patient. Frequently wildlife parks appreciate that specialist anaesthetic expertise is required with the immobilisation of some animals. We work closely with Dr Steve Philp and his colleagues at the International Zoo Veterinary Group (IZVG)in the UK and zoos around the world. IZVG probably have the most sophisticated mobile veterinary anaesthetic and monitoring set-up in the world, have been pleased to co-operate with the local/resident staff to provide the most appropriate anaesthetic environment.
Zoodent International has been working with the veterinary team at Zoomarine Portugal since 2005.
Elephant tusk surgery requires a sophisticated setup of equipment and from our point of view we only ask the parks to provide the use of an appropriate air compressor..
Range of species
The range of animals treated is very wide as illustrated in Clinical Pages and includes aardvarks, all species of great apes and numerous types of monkeys, elephants with molar and tusk problems, all the large cat and bear species, hyenas, hippopotamus, macropods, pandas, camelids, a wide range of bovids, equids, mustelids, orca and chelonids.
Location
Over the last 30 years the Team has worked with over 80 wildlife establishments throughout the World from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe as illustrated in Our Travels page.