The Saturday morning quiet quickly turned into a chorus of monkey screams as the Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary turned its clinic into a dental suite in partnership with the Dental Coalition for Conservation.
The coalition is a nonprofit group that travels all around the world providing care for exotic animals. The organization brought a team of nine veterinarians and dentists to Gainesville to help perform routine checkups on some of the 173 monkeys that call Jungle Friends home.
Coalition founder Charles Dyer was the one to reach out to Jungle Friends founder Kari Bagnall. He founded the non-profit in June 2025.
The monkeys received X-rays, blood draws, lab work and dental cleanings or extractions when needed.
Humans typically visit the dentist once or twice a year, but exotic animals rarely get that opportunity.
For a sanctuary as large as Jungle Friends, it can be costly to have monkeys’ teeth cleaned every six months to a year, and events like this help ensure the animals receive proper care, said Bagnall.
She entered the primate world when an ex-boyfriend of hers got one as a pet named Samantha. The novelty quickly wore off.
“He wanted to get rid of the monkey,” she said. “I got rid of the boyfriend and kept the monkey.”
Bagnall began researching proper primate care and later bought Samantha’s sister, Charlotte, after learning monkeys fare best together.
Nearly 30 years later, and now she cares for close to 200 monkeys representing more that 10 species. But one thing she can’t provide is dentistry.
“Dentistry is the forgotten subject in animals,” said Barron Hall, a co-founder of the coalition and a board-certified veterinary dentist.
Hall has worked in Ecuador, Africa, Seattle and Florida, treating animals ranging from half-pound monkeys at Jungle Friends to African elephants.
Unlike humans, animals can not verbalize their pain or where they feel it. Events like this allow underlying issues to be detected and treated, improving quality of life.
“As long as they eat and act normal, everyone thinks they’re fine,” he said. “But animals live or suffer in silence because that’s what they do each day.”
If an animal fails to appear healthy, it can fall lower in the food chain and become vulnerable to predators.
By providing dental and medical care, staff and volunteers aim to improve both the monkeys’ quality of life and their longevity.
“A lot of diseases, like heart disease and kidney diseases can stem from poor oral health,” said veterinarian Brittany Mason.
She added that many sanctuaries lack funding to provide consistent dental care, putting animals at higher risk of being exposed to other diseases.
Many former pet monkeys that arrive at Jungle Friends are more susceptible to dental diseases because of the sugary treats they were given and the poor diets prior to rescue.
Both Bagnall and Hall agree that exotic animals like monkeys should not be kept as pets and belong in the wild.
One monkey treated during the clinic, Kelli, a white-faced capuchin, had been kept in a very small cage in her owner's RV. The result of that is a constant side-to-side sway after nine years with little room to move.
She now loves to play fetch with sanctuary volunteers and has become inseparable from fellow white-faced capuchin Corky.
Suzie, a brown capuchin, was kept as a pet for over 40 years, with her only toy being a mirror. She was given to the sanctuary after her former owner died, and her new owner didn’t want her anymore.
During her exam, dentists removed heavy tartar buildup and discovered an upper respiratory infection. Something that may not have been detected if it wasn’t for this partnership between the coalition and Jungle Friends.
“Dentistry is something that both humans and animals share a need for,” said Mason.
Just because these animals can’t express it, doesn’t mean they don’t need it.
