- Tundra the Bear now boasts a row of pearly whites, accented with glinting titanium.
We all need to go see a dentist every once in a while. That goes even for animals.
A while ago, we brought you a story about a kitty cat who got a ridiculously expensive golden tooth crown. Recently, a Minnesota zoo performed a similar dental operation — but to a much bigger animal.
An Alaska brown bear was put under at the Lake Superior Zoo for an extensive dental reconstruction surgery. After the procedure, the bear sported a shining metal alloy canine crown.
And what a crown it is. Although it hasn’t been objectively verified, the zoo claims that the dental crown the bear received is the largest ever created, whether for human or animal.
Its size is certainly fitting for the bears 800-pound frame. Now, the bear is able to go back to performing its bear business without dental pain.
And it might even bring a few extra visitors to the zoo. After all, who wouldn’t want to see a bear with some shine to its smile.
Tooth Trouble
Meet Tundra. He’s a six-year-old Alaska brown bear who’s has been a resident at the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth, Minnesota, since his mother died when he was a three-month-old cub.
The active bear is one of the more recognizable of the zoo’s more than 300 animals. Tundra charms crowds during the daily brown bear feedings, taking place in the summer at 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Recently, however, Tundra hasn’t been chowing down on his meal with his usual gusto. You see, he’s had a bit of a toothache.
Tundra fractured his right canine tooth in 2023. At the time, he received a root canal and his tooth was repaired with layers of composite resin.
However, this didn’t prove a long-lasting fix, and the rebuilt tooth had started to break down. So, the zoo decided that the only option was to give Tundra a dental crown.
Expert Job
Finding a dentist capable of performing a bear-sized dental reconstruction operation isn’t the easiest task. Luckily, the zoo knew exactly who to call.
Dr. Grace Brown is a veterinary dentist, who has a positive history working with the Lake Superior Zoo. In 2021, she gave two root canals to Lily the Lion, and she was also the dentist who reconstructed Tundra’s tooth in 2023.
This time, however, she was facing a much bigger operation. To begin with, it wasn’t a one-time job.
Installing the enormous tooth crown required multiple preparatory operations. Finally, the big day came, and tundra was put under for the operation.
Using an ultra-strong resin, Dr. Brown bonded Tundra’s new crown into what remained of his original tooth. The crown was made out of Talladium titanium alloy and built using an accurate cast of Tundra’s canine.
The operation lasted about an hour, with armed zoo security personnel at the ready. Tundra is a massive beast, after all, and he probably wouldn’t have been too happy to wake up during the operation.
Fortunately, all went well. Tundra is now back in his enclosure, and the zoo reports his behaving and eating completely normally.
“He’s got a little glint in his smile now,” the zoo’s marketing manager Caroline Routley told NBC News.
World’s Biggest Crown
Tundra’s titanium tooth is quite the marvel of veterinary dentistry. It has quite likely broken multiple world records.
“There has never been a full metal crown (or a crown) created for a bear for treatment of a non-intact restoration ever before,” Dr. Brown told Duluth News Tribune.
“Tundra will be the only other paper describing the successful treatment for a fractured tooth using root canal therapy,” she added, detailing her intentions to write an academic case study about the unique operation.
And the case certainly deserve to be published. Not only is this the first full-metal crown for a bear, but it’s also the largest tooth crown ever created — period.
Then again, it makes sense that the world’s largest crown would go into a bear’s maw. After all, Tundra’s new tooth would barely fit in a human mouth.