• Shaun Thomson, MBA, BVSc, is a veterinarian working at Animals Asia at the Vietnam Bear Rescue Center, providing care to sickly and/or traumatized bears.
• The center focuses on rescuing bears from captivity, where they were kept for years, subjected to poor nutrition and stress, leading to significant dental problems.

At the Vietnam Bear Rescue Center, Shaun Thomson, MBA, BVSc, is employed, and he has a unique job. He is responsible for caring for sickly and/or traumatized bears that had formerly been kept in captivity, often for years. These bears often have significant dental problems as a result of their previous circumstances, where they experienced inadequate nutrition and severe stress, often chewing on the bars of their cages.

The kind of abuse is not confined to Eastern medicine. Too many of our products, pharmaceutical and cosmetic, involve the suffering of animals. This is a painful reality, but it highlights the importance of Dr. Thomson’s work.

Dr. Thomson’s article, “Exploring the unique dental health of bears,” is a fascinating read. It discusses the unique challenges of providing dental care to bears. Dr. Thomson reports that in bears, canine tooth extraction can seriously compromise the integrity of the jaw. So instead of extracting Rae’s injured fang, he decided to do a root canal.

1. Dr. Thomson performed a root canal on Rae’s injured canine tooth instead of extracting it.
2. The root canal was a successful procedure, and Rae was able to live without pain.

As a veterinarian, I was intrigued by the article and the challenges of providing dental care to bears. Thomson’s experience is not unique; veterinarians in wildlife and zoo medicine face similar challenges on a daily basis. The multitude of species and bizarre situations in which veterinarians find themselves require creative, by-the-seat-of-the-pants solutions. I can recall my time as a student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, where we were the veterinarians for the Philadelphia Zoo. There were a few particular cases that I will always remember. The Galapagos tortoise who fell off his girlfriend and fractured his femur was a challenging case to transport from the zoo to the third-floor surgery suite. We had to use a wheelbarrow to take the 400-pound tortoise upside down. Another case that stands out was a large parrot named Watson, who had lost most of his beak as a result of a fungal infection. The UPenn veterinarians created a prosthetic beak for him, and figured out how to attach it to the remnants of his natural bill. The material used was the color of Silly Putty, making Watson look like he was wearing Groucho Marx glasses with the big nose. In farm animal practice, veterinarians often face similar challenges. Simply figuring out how and where to move a cow, horse, sheep, or pig so we can work with them safely can be challenging. During my time working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in rural Virginia, I had to show up at distant farms to perform traceback testing on cattle for diseases like brucellosis and tuberculosis. This often involved rodeoing a herd of uncooperative steers into a headlock to take blood samples. 20 people are killed by cows annually in the U.S.
Despite the challenges, I am glad to see that there are still adventurous veterinarians out there, such as Dr. Thomson, who are willing to take on unusual cases. The team at the Vietnam Bear Rescue Center has already performed over 100 root canals, and they have instituted monthly dental checks for the bears in their care. The animals have even learned to voluntarily open their mouths for inspection. I can only admire the skill and perseverance of Dr. Thomson and his team. As a veterinarian, I am content with my tame practice, treating house pets, but it makes me happy to know that there are still veterinarians out there who are willing to go the extra mile to care for bears.

Definitions:

A dental procedure that involves removing infected or damaged tissue from within the tooth and disinfecting the area.

A type of dog tooth that is typically larger in size than other teeth.

The care and maintenance of a bear’s teeth, including regular check-ups and procedures to prevent disease and damage.

This article has highlighted the unique challenges and opportunities of providing dental care to bears.