A one year old black Persian cat from Indiana is sporting some interesting choppers: Sebastian the cat has gold crowns on his two bottom canine teeth! Though the kitty looks more like a movie villain’s pet than a mild mannered Persian these days, the gold crowns really do serve a purpose beyond the cosmetic.
Sebastian’s odd underbite is more like a bulldog than a typical cat, with his bottom canines sticking out from his lips. Sebastian’s owner — Doctor David Steele — is a dentist who feared the unique fangs would become a problem. He decided that the gold crowns would be the perfect solution to help strengthen the teeth.
When Sebastian went in for his regular grooming, his dentist dad took impressions of the protruding choppers and sent them off to a company that makes crowns for human patients. It took less than two weeks to get the crowns back; a local veterinarian tranquilized Sebastian while Steele did the dental magic. Within fifteen minutes, Sebastian was ready for his close-up.
According to Doctor Steele, it is entirely possible to work on animal teeth the same way you would work on human teeth. The gold crowns strengthen the problem teeth — but had a strange side effect. Sebastian gets a TON of attention. Wouldn’t you pay attention to a black cat sporting a pair of gold fangs?
Gold crowns can be used on any animal with problem teeth, in theory. The cost may be a little prohibitive; just like for humans, a gold crown runs around $900 for a pet. With the cost of the crowns, you might want to leave the gold dental work for an emergency.
But this isn’t the first time Steele has done gold crowns for pets; he has applied a crown to a cat who was hit by a car and has done some sparkly dental work on his own Boston terrier.