Dentist helps wounded sea turtle return to wild

Orthodontist Alberto Vargas calls Andre, a 171-pound sea turtle that he fitted with a set of braces, a very strange patient. "I'm not aware of this ever being done on a turtle before. We changed the shape of his shell, just like we change the shape of a patient's jaw," said Vargas, who performed the work for free.

Named after the gentle giant wrestler, Andre was found in June 2010 stranded on a sandbar about a mile and a half south of the Juno Beach Pier. Swimmers floated the endangered green sea turtle to shore on a boogie board. They called the Loggerhead Marinelife Center for help. Boat propellers had gouged two holes in the green turtle's shell. The bigger gash, about two inches deep and packed with about three pounds of sand, was the size of an adult forearm. The other was as big as a baseball. "I found a live crab inside," said Melissa Ranly, Marinelife hospital coordinator.



Andre's problems were just starting. He had a collapsed lung. Pneumonia. Exposed spinal cord. Severe infections. "We didn't think he had a chance," said Tom Longo, marinelife communications manager. Undaunted, turtle experts at the center gingerly cleaned the wound. They covered it with a black foam and clear plastic to promote healing. Andre's shell was hooked up to a plastic tube that uses negative pressure to promote new skin growth and knock out infection supplied for free by San Antonio-based Kinetic Concepts Inc. "It was never tried on a turtle before," said Mike Barger, Kinetic spokesman.

That's where Vargas came in. Using braces like bridges to either side of the wound, the orthodontist pushed and pulled Andre's shell to promote growth. Each day, caregivers twisted a key that clicked to adjust the braces. He coaxed the shell to expand about one inch. "We lessened the size of the hole," said Vargas, whose office is in Abacoa. And now after 13 months of treatment, Andre is ready to be released. His skin underneath the foam, once fully exposing organs, is now hard enough to survive in the depths of the Atlantic. Green turtles grow up to about 400 pounds and live 80 years.

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