Lt. Cmdr. Kevin G. Scott, Camp Lemonnier's (CLDJ) Dental Officer and Navy Reservist from Montana, completed a routine dental procedure on a not-so-routine patient, March 15.

Military working dog (MWD) Lyna (lee-na), a five-year-old German Shepherd, received a number of treatments from Scott with the assistance of CLDJ Veterinary Officer Army Capt. Kelly Mallette and CLDJ dental and veterinary staff.

"We did a focused exam, deep cleaning and scaling, and two root canal treatments on the broken teeth." said Scott. "We also did build-up fillings after the root canals to protect and restore the broken teeth."

MWDs play an integral role in the safety and well-being of all service members forward deployed to CLDJ, and their dental health is vital to the success of their mission.

"MWDs with broken teeth could be in pain, which can lead to lack of focus or drive and decreases their bite strength," said Mallette.

With this being uncharted territory for CLDJ dental and veterinary services, the procedure did present some minor hurdles.

"This was the first time an MWD has been worked on in the dental clinic, so a lot of challenges were just making sure we had everything needed for the procedures and that the room was set up." said Mallette.

The collaborative team effort between dental and veterinary services resulted in a successful procedure which had Lyna back to work the very next day.

"There weren't too many issues; Dr. Mallette was running anesthesia so we were able to discuss the case in real time." said Scott. "I also work with two very dedicated hospital corpsmen who rearranged a cramped dental room into an operative space that was well organized and set up for any procedure we may have needed to do."

Camp Lemonnier provides, operates, and sustains superior service in support of combat readiness along with security of ships, aircraft detachments and personnel for regional and combat command requirements, enabling operations for the Horn of Africa while fostering positive U.S.-African nation relations. Camp Lemonnier enables the forward operations and responsiveness of U.S. and allied forces in support of Navy Region, Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia's mission to provide services to the fleet, fighter, and family.

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For more news from Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, visit www.navy.mil/.