Salt spray, wind-blown dust and seagull droppings are not all that have damaged the Harbour Mouth Molars sculpture since it was completed in 2010. Gentry is cleaning dirt from the caps this week, along with regrouting and other maintenance.
The controversial artwork has previously been attacked and spray-painted with offensive words.
Three of the six molars were spray-painted in 2011 and two of the Oamaru stone pieces were hacked with what appeared to be an axe.
The $45,000 sculpture was also spray-painted with large purple letters just weeks after its official unveiling.
The artist was influenced by the University of Otago Faculty of Dentistry and Otago Peninsula’s volcanic origins — painfully emerging teeth and new landforms pushed up by the volcanoes.
Gentry, who now lives in Dunedin, said it was the second time he had cleaned the teeth.
