A tiger with a toothache

Dante is a 16-year-old male Tiger living at the Popcorn Park Zoo. He has been a patient of Jennifer Kim, DVM, DACVIM (Oncology) here at NorthStar VETS to treat his cancer. You can find out more about how we’ve been helping Dante on that health front at the Popcorn Park Zoo website.

His caretakers noticed that he had some swelling of the jaw recently, and decided to bring him in to NorthStar VETS to get some scans done and receive an evaluation from John Lewis, VMD, FAVD, DAVDC in our Dentistry department. Dr. Jonathan Bergmann put Dante into his new transportation crate and made the journey in to see us.

Upon arrival, our team checked him out and got him a CT scan of his head and chest. The scan of his head was to check out the swelling of his jaw, and the scan of his chest was to check on his cancer. After the scan, the team reviewed the images and moved Dante to the Dental lab.

Once in the Dental lab, Dr. Lewis took X-rays of Dante’s teeth and reviewed those. With the rest of his time at NorthStar VETS, Dr. Lewis drained the cyst that was causing the swelling so that Dante could find some relief, and spoke with Dr. Bergmann about a return visit to have Dante’s lower canine tooth extracted. Until next time, Dante is back home at the Popcorn Park Zoo relaxing and enjoying his days.

John Lewis, VMD, FAVD, DAVDC
Dr. John Lewis is the veterinary dentist at NorthStar VETS. He was Assistant Professor of Dentistry and Oral Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated from University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in 1997 and spent 5 years in general practice prior to returning for a residency in dentistry and oral surgery. Dr. Lewis became a fellow of the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry (AVD) in 2004 and a diplomate of the American Veterinary Dental College (AVDC) in 2005. At the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Lewis has served as Associate Director of the Mari Lowe Center for Comparative Oncology, and more recently, as Chief of Surgery. Dr. Lewis’ research interests include oral surgical oncology, maxillofacial fracture repair, maxillofacial reconstruction, new therapies for treatment of feline oral squamous cell carcinoma, and lasers in oral surgery and dentistry. Dr. Lewis is a past President of the American Veterinary Dental Society, and has served as Examination Chair of the AVDC and Credentials Chair of the AVD. Prior to joining NorthStar VETS full-time, Dr. Lewis was the residency director of the world’s first academic residency in Veterinary Dentistry and Oral Surgery at Penn Vet.