A case of hyperdontia in grizzly bear in British Columbia

Hyperdontia refers to an excess number of teeth past the expected number of teeth for an individual located in the mandible or maxilla. These extra teeth are often referred to as “supernumerary.” This condition is a relatively uncommon, infrequent phenomenon scarcely documented in Ursidae globally, with only a handful of examples documented in literature. In 2008, an indigenous hunter harvested a grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) in Smithers, British Columbia, Canada. The bear exhibited 7 maxillary incisors, with a supernumerary tooth present. This observation serves as the first-ever record of the supernumerary dentition of the incisors in brown bears.