How do you clean large animals' teeth?

How do you remove an elephant's tooth, give a polar bear a check-up or make a hippo's teeth sparkle?

This week Lucha the elephant had to have a rotten tooth removed by a human dentist and that made us think about other massive animals whose teeth have needed a once over...

How do you remove an elephant's tooth?

Experts at a zoo in Bedfordshire realised something was wrong with Lucha when she wasn't eating her food.

A human dentist was called in to help and removed the rotten tooth.

Lucha was asleep while the operation was carried out and she's now doing much better.

How do you give a polar bear a check up?

Walker, a male polar bear at The Highland Wildlife Park, has regular trips to the dentist for check-ups, because he's had problems with his teeth in the past.

It took 23 people to help manhandle Walker into place at the park in Scotland.

Polar bears are very powerful animals, so for safety Walker needed to be asleep throughout the procedure.

How does a hippo keep its teeth clean?

With a giant toothbrush of course!

This zoo-keeper at the Tennoji Zoo, in Japan, were tasked with brushing 'Tetsuo' the hippopotamus's giant choppers.

Hippos have up to 40 teeth, some of which can grow up to half a metre in length.

They usually let fish and birds clean their teeth for them, so it was a bit of a change to have a human help them to clean their teeth.

Hippos use their teeth for fighting and eating tough plants, so it's better to leave the cleaning to the professionals.