{"id":213604,"date":"2025-10-14T21:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T21:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/213604\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T21:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T21:06:07","slug":"incredible-moment-dentist-removes-8cm-infected-tooth-from-140kg-lioness-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/213604\/","title":{"rendered":"Incredible moment dentist removes 8cm infected tooth from 140kg lioness | UK | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Incredible images show a dentist operating on a lioness, extracting a massive infected canine from the 140kg big cat while she was under sedation. The three-year-old female named Lira had the 8cm tooth removed at the Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarsden, Kent.<\/a><\/p>\n

Experienced dentist Peter Kertesz drained an abscess from beneath the tooth before the large wound was stitched up with seven dissolving sutures. He also carried out<\/a> a root canal on the opposing upper canine tooth, which was also found to be infected, cleaning and filling it with materials akin to those used for humans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Kertesz, from Zoodent International, estimated that the infection was likely caused by a trauma sustained when Lira was between one-and-a-half and two years old, leading to bacteria producing toxins inside the tooth.<\/p>\n

The dentist said: “When I examined Lira’s jaw and mouth, I could see immediately that the broken tooth was severely infected. My philosophy is that non-human dental problems need to be treated in the most predictable, the least invasive and safest way.<\/p>\n

“Lira doesn’t have to catch prey, so in this case, extraction was the most sensible and ethical solution. If it had been a less severe infection, I would have filled it.”<\/p>\n

Lira was transported back to her home while still under sedation, where the anaesthetic was reversed, allowing her to wake up safely under the care of the veterinary team.<\/p>\n

Briony Smith, curator at The Big Cat Sanctuary, who supervised the successful operation, said: “We had noticed a small lump on Lira’s jawline, but it is impossible for us to know the extent of the problem in situations like this. I am so glad we booked her in, as it was a much bigger issue than any of us had anticipated.<\/p>\n

“The procedure was a complete success. Lira will be a little uncomfortable to begin with, but now that the toxins are out of her body, she will start to feel much better over the coming days.”<\/p>\n

Lira was brought to The Big Cat Sanctuary from war-ravaged Ukraine<\/a> following a campaign by managing director Cam Whitnall, who raised \u00a3500,000 for her and four other rescued lions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Incredible images show a dentist operating on a lioness, extracting a massive infected canine from the 140kg big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1313,64,63,131000,130998,131001,130999,128,5525,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-213604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-big-cat-sanctuary","12":"tag-lioness-dental-surgery","13":"tag-lira-the-lioness","14":"tag-peter-kertesz","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-ukraine","17":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}