Open wide and say grrrr: An 800-pound bear in Duluth gets largest dental crown ever created

DULUTH – What do a rolling pin, an exit strategy and massive amounts of sedatives have in common? They’re all part of a risky effort to affix a metal crown inside the mouth of an 800-pound Alaskan brown bear.

The Lake Superior Zoo’s 6-year old Tundra received on Monday what a Two Harbors veterinary dentist says is the largest dental crown ever created, for the first U.S. procedure of its kind on a brown bear.

And did it feel dangerous to dentist Grace Brown, having her fingers inside the mouth of a giant bear?

“Anything that could potentially eat you is dangerous,” she said Tuesday, but she’s had tougher times with Chihuahuas than Tundra.

Running through her head before and during instead, she said, was whether X-rays would show the need for surgery or next steps if the tooth didn’t fit.

Brown has worked on Tundra’s mouth before, including a 2023 root canal. The canine tooth fixed during that procedure was recently reinjured, prompting the need for a crown. The crown weighs about as much as a golf ball and stands three times taller than a human tooth.

Working quickly to beat the ticking sedation clock, Brown was assisted by three dental technicians and a specialized X-ray technician. Zoo staff monitored sedation levels of Tundra, whose mouth was propped open by a rolling pin. A man with a gun stood nearby in case, well, the bear woke up early.

Tundra was intubated and placed under sedation instead of general anesthesia. The latter would have meant transporting him to the hospital portion of the zoo, moving him through the open zoo grounds and among visitors, increasing risk.

It took 14 people to lift Tundra onto a table. Brown’s work took 19 minutes, she said, but the entire procedure was finished in an hour. Zoo staff gave Tundra enough sedation to keep him sleepy for 90 minutes, and the entire operation went smoothly, Brown said.

Brown chose to install a crown instead of extracting the bear’s tooth because of the time it would take to remove. With the tooth extending more than 3 inches beneath the gum line, Tundra would need to be put under for three to four hours. That length of time can be life-threatening to a bear and put him at risk for cardiac problems, Brown said.

“We do have a responsibility for patients in captivity to make sure they can receive appropriate treatment necessary for survival,” she said, especially because they live much longer in captivity.

Brown, who has also worked on the teeth of a black bear, plans to publish a paper on the crown installation in the “Journal of Veterinary Dentistry.”

Scott Alexander of Idaho-based Creature Crowns created the Talladium metal crown from a wax caste, after other manufacturers passed because of the necessary size.

Brown’s Minnesota Veterinary Dental Specialists practice and Creature Crowns donated their services to the zoo. The procedure cost about $15,000, but ongoing care and maintenance from Brown and Alexander through the years will triple that, Brown said.

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