Prof. Gerhard Steenkamp relies on Somta cutters for dental treatment of elephant tusks

“This year marks the 11th year of my journey with Somta Tools, now an OSG Group company. Way back in 2013 I stumbled upon their website when I was looking for industrial sized cutters for my industrial sized patients. African elephants can stand three to four metres tall and can weigh in excess of 6 tons. By all measures they are enormous,” explained Professor Gerhard Steenkamp of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria and founder of Vetdent International, a company that does consultancy work for wild animal dental and oral conditions and includes all aspects of dentistry and maxillofacial surgery.

“My fascination with elephant teeth started in the mid 1990’s soon after I realised that veterinary dentistry and maxillofacial surgery was my passion. Born and bred in South Africa, I always loved the veld (bush and grasslands) and our spectacular diversity of wild animals. Initially I studied zoology and botany but soon realised veterinary science is where I would like to be. After completing my veterinary science degree, the long road started to become proficient in my chosen speciality,” continued Steenkamp.

“This year marks the 11th year of my journey with Somta Tools, now an OSG Group company. Way back in 2013 I stumbled upon their website when I was looking for industrial sized cutters for my industrial sized patients. African elephants can stand three to four metres tall and can weigh in excess of 6 tons. By all measures they are enormous,” explained Professor Gerhard Steenkamp of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria and founder of Vetdent International, a company that does consultancy work for wild animal dental and oral conditions and includes all aspects of dentistry and maxillofacial surgery

“During the following years I became proficient in veterinary dentistry, especially in small animals and equines. Since late 1999, I have been confronted by elephant patients and initially had the mechanical engineering department of the University of Pretoria assisting me with instrument development. This was an arduous process as we did not have many patients and also cadavers (bodies) were very difficult to come by.”

“You may wonder why a veterinary dentist is knocking on the door of a company that has supplied the industry with quality cutting tools for decades. Well, elephants have quite large tusks, which are basically oversized incisor teeth. When these break (fracture), they need to be restored or removed. With both of these procedures I need to hollow out part of the tooth and then tap it (if I can save it) or section it length-wise if I want to remove it.”

“It is for these instruments that I sought the help of Somta, many years ago. I was on my way to the coast for a family holiday and decided to stop at Somta’s Pietermaritzburg factory in KwaZulu-Natal and discuss my situation. That day I spoke to Ossie Patterson who has been my contact ever since. The support I have received from him and Somta throughout the years has been exceptional. They have developed cutters for me which work like a dream.”

Professor Gerhard Steenkamp has travelled the world to do dental work on elephants. Since late 1999 he has been confronted by elephant patients

“The first generation of cutters had four cutting edges and a rather flat cutting surface in order to drill out the core. They remind me of the drilling machines I have seen used to cut tunnels through a rock face. Due to the flat cutting edge, we developed five or six different sized cutters, each following on one another in order to gradually increase the cutting diameter. These have served me well for a decade and then I was faced with an elephant of which the ivory was extremely hard. He had developed ivory pearls in the pulp cavity where I needed to drill, and this is much harder than the consistency of normal ivory. Earlier this year I visited Somta and discussed the problem with Ossie and his colleagues. The solution was to increase the cutting surfaces and elongate them to cut more tusk for every revolution.”

“A second problem I deal with is corrosion of the cutters. Initially the cutters are sterilised in an autoclave before use. They are cooled with a sodium chloride containing solution during drilling and are also exposed to blood. Since they need to be really hard, it was not possible to manufacture them from stainless steel. The cutters are manufactured from mild steel and a titanium coating is applied afterwards. This titanium does not stop corrosion, but I have found it slows it down substantially. Depending on use, I have these cutters recoated every two to three years.”

Professor Gerhard Steenkamp uses Somta tooling for those difficult tusks and together with all his elephant patients they are and will forever be indebted to Somta and their unselfish willingness to help

“I am proud to say that currently we must have developed the best quality cutters for elephant tusks anywhere in the world. This is just another success story of how the engineering and veterinary/medical field worked together to help patients in need. I have worked in many countries including the USA, and everyone is amazed that those cutters are still sharp after a decade. I always proudly say we developed a solution for African elephants in Africa! Together with all my elephant patients we are and will forever be indebted to Somta and their unselfish willingness to help.”

Professor Gerhard Steenkamp completed his BVSc degree in 1994 from the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Veterinary Science at Onderstepoort, after obtaining his BSc (Zoology) at the same institution. He completed the inaugural course in dentistry offered through the European school for Advanced Veterinary Studies in 1998. After three years in Europe, he returned to Onderstepoort where he has been the head of the Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery clinic ever since. Gerhard did his MSc on the clinically relevant morphometrics of African elephant tusks and in 2017 completed his PhD on structure, development and pathology of the cheetah maxillofacial complex.

Professor Gerhard Steenkamp is based at Onderstepoort, where he has been the head of the Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery clinic ever since 2001

In 2017 Gerhard became a founding member of the certificate in Zoo and Wildlife Dentistry under the auspices of the American Veterinary Dental College. His research interests include developmental dentistry and maxillofacial surgery of non-domesticated species as well as maxillofacial pathology and surgery of domestic species. He has lectured in many parts of North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. Gerhard has published 50 peer reviewed papers, authored or co-authored 5 book chapters and has delivered more than 50 international conference presentations.

In 2020 Gerhard was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons for his contribution to Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery for wildlife and in particular his work on elephants.

For further details contact Somta Tools on TEL: 011 390 8700 or visit https://www.somta.co.za or visit https://www.vetdentinternational.com