"Better teeth, better health"

The 5 days marathon of the Wildlife Dental Workshop in Sepilok Clinic was a success! Our 11 sun bears that received the treatment are doing very well with all maintaining good appetites. Fortunately, certain foul smells of the oral cavity disappeared right away after the dental treatment. Dental health in captive wildlife is significant in animal welfare, contributing to overall health. The dental problems could be caused by previous improper diet or cage-biting behaviour.

 

BSBCC is fortunate to be equipped with a specialized portable dental unit and intraoral x-ray scanner with the Hasanah Grant. These equipment allowed us to examine, diagnose and treat the dental diseases at the root cause. We are very grateful to the vet dentist Dr. Cedric Tutt, that was willing to travel far from South Africa to help our bears. Dr. Cedric is such an inspiring person who is passionate to help the animals who can't speak up for themselves.

 

The participation from Drs. Serena (Wildlife Asia Veterinary Services), Sandy (Matang Wildlife Center), Pakee (Sunway Wildlife Park), Roopan (WWF Cambodia), Jessie (Jesslton Animal Clinic), Gillian (Loch 11 Animal Clinic) and Reza (Danau Girang Field Centre) made the workshop even more meaningful, as it boosts friendship and collaboration among different practices.

 

The workshop had reached the end, but our work to provide dental care to the animals continues. We have made plans to reach out to more captive wildlife organisations that require dental treatment.