Hide! The Tiger's Mouth is Open Wide! (3 page)

‘OK, that’s fine,’ said Dr Sharp after a few minutes.

‘Oh,’ Tom moaned. ‘I only just started.’

‘He has the cleanest teeth in London,’ said Violet. ‘Zoo visitors will have to wear sunglasses to protect themselves from the glare.’

Tom handed back the toothbrush reluctantly. ‘What about floss?’ he asked, looking suddenly hopeful.

‘He doesn’t need floss,’ Dr Sharp said.

‘Mouthwash?’

Dr Sharp and Violet shook their heads.

‘You were very helpful though,’ Dr Sharp said. ‘I don’t think Colin likes me at all. Fancy helping me with our next patient?’

‘Who’s next?’ Sophie asked.

‘Harriet the pygmy hippo,’ said Dr Sharp.

‘Definitely!’ Tom and Sophie said together.

A few minutes later, Mrs Nightingale was leading Dr Sharp, Violet, Tom and Sophie into the hippos’ enclosure. Mr Nightingale had gone on ahead to lure Harriet out of her pool.

‘Are hippos herbivores or carnivores?’ Tom asked.

‘Herbivores,’ said Dr Sharp.

‘So they’re peaceful, plant-eating creatures then,’ said Tom.

‘Not exactly,’ said Violet.

‘Not exactly?’ Sophie asked.

‘OK, I mean not at all,’ said Violet. ‘Yes, hippos eat plants, so they have lots of flat molars at the back of their mouths to grind and chew vegetable matter. But they also have to defend themselves against lions, crocodiles and sometimes other hippos. So they have some of the longest, sharpest canine teeth of any land animal. And their teeth are the hardest in the world – some people think they can even deflect bullets!’

‘Wow!’ exclaimed Tom.

‘You’ve seen a photo of a hippo with its mouth open?’ Dr Sharp asked.

Tom and Sophie nodded.

‘If it chooses to clamp it shut, it can kill a lion with a single bite.’

Sophie bit her bottom lip and looked at Tom, who had a slightly worried expression on his face.

‘And you’re going to put your head in its mouth?’ Tom asked.

‘Hang on,’ Dr Sharp said. ‘First of all, we’re not lions or a crocodiles. And secondly, she’s a pygmy hippo, so everything’s a lot smaller, including her teeth.’

Tom and Sophie felt slightly calmer until they turned a corner and saw Harriet, standing by the edge of her pool, with her mouth wide open and her large canine teeth shining in the sun.

‘Whoa,’ they both said, taking two steps backwards.

Mr Nightingale appeared and looked confused. ‘No need to worry, kids,’ he said. ‘I’m just getting her ready for Dr Sharp. We’ve trained her to open her mouth.’ He held up the whistle around his neck.

Tom and Sophie relaxed slightly.

Harriet was about one metre tall and almost two metres long, with a slighty rounder head than a full-sized hippo.

Mr Nightingale pointed to a red mark on Harriet’s top lip. He said, ‘I first noticed this about a month ago and it’s got steadily worse.

I don’t think it’s a cut or a sore, so I’m a bit at a loss as to what’s causing it.’

Dr Sharp and Violet poked gently around in Harriet’s mouth. Harriet’s eyes shifted uneasily but she kept her mouth open.

‘She’s very patient, isn’t she?’ Sophie said.

‘She’s a patient patient,’ said Tom with a grin. ‘Geddit?’

‘Hilarious,’ said Sophie.

Dr Sharp finished examining Harriet and turned to face everyone. ‘Her teeth are to blame for her sore lip. See her lower right canine, here?’ He pointed at one of the long sharp teeth in the hippo’s bottom jaw. ‘It’s got slightly wonky and started to dig into her lip every time she closes her mouth.’

Mr Nightingale nodded. ‘So what do we do?’ he asked.

Violet bent down and pulled a giant nail file out of her bag.

‘Wow, is any of your equipment normal-sized?’ Tom asked.

‘Every morning you need to file the side of her tooth down with this. To make it straighter. Starting this morning.’

‘Won’t that hurt her?’ said Sophie.

Violet shook her head. ‘There are no nerves in the outer ivory of her teeth. It will tickle her slightly, but it won’t hurt.’

‘I’m great at filing!’ Tom said. ‘I helped Dad make a coffee table for our houseboat. I had to make all the edges smooth. So if you need a hand . . .’

‘I think your Dad should probably go first,’ Violet said. ‘It’s pretty tough going. Remember, her teeth are among the strongest in the world.’

‘OK,’ said Tom begrudgingly.

Mr Nightingale started to file down the side of Harriet’s wonky tooth. When he’d removed some of the ivory, he handed the file back to Violet.

‘Can I have a go now?’ asked Tom.

‘And me too!’ said Sophie.

‘Well, I suppose there’s no harm in you having a try,’ said Violet.

‘Me first!’ said Tom, and Sophie rolled her eyes, as Violet passed Tom the file.

The file was so heavy and the tooth so tough that they didn’t make much progress.

‘Never mind,’ Mrs Nightingale said. ‘It’s all good exercise.’

‘Her tooth’s as hard as rock,’ Sophie said, wiping her brow and handing the file back to Violet.

‘Harder,’ said Tom. ‘Can anything else open its mouth that wide?’ he asked, staring at Harriet, whose mouth was still open.

‘Hardly anything,’ said Mrs Nightingale. ‘A hippo can open its mouth 150 degrees. That’s almost half a circle.’

Tom opened his mouth as wide as he could.

‘Shall we file your teeth now, Tom?’ Violet asked with a smile.

‘Let’s do it!’ exclaimed Sophie. ‘Pass me the file, Violet!’

Tom quickly closed his mouth again.

Chapter 3

That afternoon, after Dr Sharp and Violet had left, Tom and Sophie talked about nothing but teeth for at least half an hour. They went to the zoo shop and stood in the aisles for about fifteen minutes, flicking through the books to find any mentions of teeth.

‘This one says that dolphins have more teeth than any other animal,’ said Tom. ‘They’ve got, like, two hundred!’

‘It says in this book says that sharks lose and regrow their teeth every couple of weeks,’ said Sophie, ‘so they grow up to thirty thousand teeth in the course of a lifetime.’

‘Thirty thousand teeth!’ said Tom. ‘Imagine how much money you’d get from the tooth fairy!’

Sophie snapped her book shut. ‘We should help Dr Sharp.’

‘What do you mean?’ Tom asked.

‘We should keep an eye on the zoo animals’ teeth,’ said Sophie. ‘Monitor them every week. Check they’re eating properly. Look out for any sore jaws.’

‘OK,’ said Tom, ‘but how?’

‘We’ll take photos,’ said Sophie. ‘We’ll talk to zookeepers. We’ll analyse animal droppings. We’ll video them eating their meals. We’ll be Dental Detectives!’

‘Tooth Sleuths,’ added Tom.

‘Youth Tooth Sleuths,’ said Sophie.

They spent the rest of the afternoon going from one enclosure to the next, working out whether each animal had teeth and, if so, whether they needed to be monitored.

Sophie had a map of the zoo and placed a blue cross next to animals they knew didn’t have teeth and a red circle around those that belonged on their Patients’ Register.

They paused in front of the giant Galapagos tortoises. One of the tortoises had a bunch of leaves sticking out of its mouth.

‘They must have teeth, right?’ Tom asked.

‘No, I read about this earlier,’ said Sophie. ‘No tortoises have teeth.’

‘But look, it’s
chewing
,’
said Tom.

‘It breaks down its food with its strong beak and its tough jaws,’ Sophie said. ‘No teeth are involved.’

‘So they’re a bit like Grandad then?’ Tom said with a grin.

Sophie grinned back and put a blue cross on the map next to the giant tortoises.

A few minutes later, they were staring at the Sumatran tigers.

‘Now, they
definitely
have teeth,’ said Tom.

‘Yeah, I really hope they don’t have any dental problems,’ said Sophie. ‘I wouldn’t want to give one of them a filling.’

One of the tigers came towards them and yawned, showing off its huge canines and razor-sharp back teeth. It was by far the smaller of the two tigers so Tom and Sophie knew it was Lizzie, the female.