The 150-kilogram (330-pound) animal was next seen by dentist Danilo Russo, who put in several fillings as the rest of the team of three Bulgarian and six Italian vets closely monitored the bear's cardio-respiratory functions.
Charlie was one of nine bears that received dental treatment from the animal rescue team, who said they were shocked at evidence of so much suffering.
"All the 18 bears in the park were captured as cubs and brought up as roaming dance performers by their gypsy owners, who taught them to 'dance' by putting their greased paws on a hot iron plate and playing music on a rebec," said the park's executive director Tsvetelina Ivanova.
"Their teeth were filed or taken out, and their noses and upper lips were pierced with an iron ring to fix the chain they were led on," she said, adding that the animals had "been beaten (and) made drunk on beer and vodka."
The bears were chronically underfed, and the tiny portions of sweatbread, sugar and yogurt they lived on had disastrous effects on their teeth, Ilieva said.
Her Austria-based organization Vier Pfoten (Four Paws), together with French animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot, founded the park in Belitsa in 2000 and vowed to shelter all 25 of Bulgaria's officially registered dancing bears.
The park plans to welcome its next four-legged resident on Sept. 23.
"We do our best for them, and I believe they feel better after it. If I was one of them I would think myself in paradise after waking up with no toothache and being again able to nibble anything," Khalil told AFP.
