Brookfield Zoo vets using 3-D imaging on animals

Brookfield Zoo is using 3-D imaging in its animal hospital to help veterinarians treat animals.

Zoo officials say the digital radiology scans recently helped a 17-year-old aardvark named Hoover. The scans revealed that a hole from a missing tooth was draining into the aardvark's sinus cavity.

The diagnosis would have been impossible without the new imaging. Zoo vets are now monitoring the condition to prevent complications.

A 9-year-old African crested porcupine named Pilgrim requires regular tooth trims. Animal care specialists were questioning if one of Pilgrim's incisors should be extracted. The 3-D imaging helped show why pulling the teeth could be risky and more difficult than the continued trimming.

The 3-D pictures showed the incisors' proximity to many other structures that would make the procedure difficult.