Meet "Bear Drills": The Dentist Who Has Fixed the Teeth of 200 Rescued Bears

Martin Mulcahy is a dentist in Chichester, England, and for twenty years he’s also been something else: the guy who shows up when a rescued bear can’t chew. It started with a photograph shown to him by Alan Knight, a picture of a bear with broken teeth. Mulcahy couldn’t say no. His first patient was a 180-kilogram sloth bear named Anthony, and the surgery almost ended in disaster when anaesthesia complications stopped Anthony’s breathing. Someone in the room said,“You’ve killed our bear.”A crash kit, adrenaline, and three minutes of chest compressions brought him back. When Anthony woke up, Mulcahy described the feeling as triumphant. Anthony went on to live another decade.

That first save turned into a calling. Mulcahy has now treated around 200 bears, along with tigers, lions, hyenas, gorillas, and orangutans. Many of these animals were victims of deliberate cruelty. Poachers hammer out teeth to make wild animals seem tame, meaning Mulcahy’s work isn’t just repair, it’s restoration after harm. He is still a working dentist in Chichester, treating human patients, while earning the nickname“Bear Drills”for what he does in the operating room for animals.

It’s an ordinary professional with a drill, saying yes once and never really stopping. A single photograph redirected two decades of his life and gave dozens of animals a second shot at eating, living, and healing.

What’s the one moment that changed the direction of your life? Tell us in the comments.