Perth Zoo sun bear Jamran has been rescued from wildlife poachers and saved from ending up as soup. Now the bear has survived its latest challenge – a visit from the dentist.

Jamran, who is 17, was born in Cambodia and captured in a snare by wildlife poachers.

One of two sun bears at Perth Zoo, Jamran was destined to be turned into bear paw soup and suffered an injury after being trapped.

At the dentist, how much can a sun bear bare? Photo: ABC

“The snare cut off the circulation to his foot and he lost the toe as a result of that,” senior veterinarian Simone Vitali said.

But Jamran was one of the lucky ones – the bear was rescued and nursed back to health by the local Free the Bears centre, and ended up in Perth.

Dr Vitali said it took the hesitant male a long time to trust the Perth keepers after arriving in 2007.

“Jamran was a very nervous bear when he first came to the zoo. He was quite aggressive and he was very distrustful of people, understandably,” Dr Vitali said.

Over the years … he’s learnt to be a lot more tolerant.”

Today the bear’s biggest problem is a build-up of tartar on his teeth, a result of an insatiable sweet tooth.

“One of the problems with sun bears is they can be real garbage guts animals,” Dr Vitali explained.

“They love sweet food, they love anything that they can their hands on that’s a bit yummy.

“Over time, if you’re not very careful … you do get build-ups of tartar on their teeth.”

The visit to the dentist for a scale and clean also provided the opportunity for a general health check-up.

Jamran will now start a new diet and the keepers will keep an eye on those pearly whites.