Gold-FANG-er: Tiger who cracked her tooth chewing on toys is fitted with a golden replacement at an animal shelter in Germany
- Cara, a five-year-old Bengal, was rescued from illegal captivity in Italy in 2013 and taken to German reserve
- Keepers noticed in August that Cara had somehow broken her front fang by chewing on her toys
- A specialist team from Denmark created a replacement tooth made from gold, which was fitted this month
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A rescue tiger living at a shelter in Germany has been fitted with a golden fang after breaking hers while chewing on toys.
Cara, a five-year-old, 125lb Bengal tiger, was earlier this month fitted with the crown which covers her damaged tooth at a rescue centre in the town of Massweiler.
A specialist team of Danish dentists had to make two trips to the Tierart animal shelter in order to fit the new tooth – the first in August to take a mould of the fang, and the second early this month in order to fit it.
Cara, a five-year-old, 125lb Bengal tiger, has been fitted with a golden fang after breaking hers while chewing on toys at a rescue centre in Germany
It took a team of Danish dentists two operations lasting almost four hours to fit the crown – one in August to model the tooth, and a second to glue the prosthetic into place
The first operation took more than two hours, experts at the rescue centre said, while the second took around an hour and a half.
Dentists fitted the golden crown over Cara’s damaged tooth, then used special glue and UV light to lock it in place.
Three weeks after the operation she has now fully adjusted to the new tooth, and is using it normally.
Keepers said that at first she spent a long time licking the new metallic fitting, as it obviously felt strange in her mouth.
She was also given meat without bones in as a precaution while the crown settled into place.
Biologist Eva Lindenschmidt said: ‘We are really pleased that Cara can bite properly now and is seen smiling showing her new gold tooth.
More than three weeks on from the operation, keepers say Cara is now able to use the tooth normally including biting through bone
Cara was rescued from illegal captivity in Italy in 2013 and brought to Germany in 2015, where she now lives in the town of Massweiler, in the country’s west
‘The tooth crown fitted perfectly from the start.
‘We saw on the X-rays that the grooves in her tooth went right back to the root canal. If the tooth had broken, she would have been in extreme pain.
‘Luckily the team of international specialists in dental medicine were able to produce the gold crown including Danish vet dentist Jens Ruhnau and Dr Johanna Painer from Vienna Veterinary University.’
She added: ‘The operation did not have any complications and the crown fit perfectly from the start, we are happy Cara can bite properly again.’
Cara was found in the private ownership at a farmhouse in Mugnano, Italy in 2013 and was confiscated by authorities before she was transferred to the Tierart tiger station in Massweiler, Germany in 2015.
A mould of Cara’s teeth, showing how the new fang was fitted after she gnawed a notch into her natural tooth