A BROKEN tooth needs special care but doubly so when the patient has a wild temperament and weighs in at a hefty 28st.

Paignton Zoo staff had to call in wildlife specialist dentist Peter Kertesz when they found boss gorilla Pertinax was in need of dental care.

Pertinax is the 28-year-old alpha male of the bachelor group of Western lowland gorillas at the zoo and keepers saw he had a broken tooth which required treatment.

They called in Mr Kertesz, who is one of only a few specialist zoo dentists in the world, to tend to the silverback who weighs in at around 28st, or 179 kg.

Neil Bemment, Zoo curator of mammals, said: "Pertinax had a broken canine. Peter had to remove the root, which was a good three inches long."

A large team of experts was gathered to do the job which included Peter and his dental nurse Emma Roper, zoo vet Ghislaine Sayers and nurses Kelly Elford and Emily Gorman, as well as great ape keepers Lee Hayley, Craig Gilchrist, Brian Baxter and Mr Bemment.

The operation took about two hours.

Pertinax was understandably groggy afterwards but back to his normal self the following day.

Mr Kertesz said: "Animals or people, it's all the same.

"If they need treatment, they get treatment.

"The scale is what varies, and the location. It is all about teamwork."

Mr Kertesz, who has a dental practice in London, said his first experience of animal dentistry was when he looked at a cat for a vet in 1978.

He started working with London Zoo and the International Zoo Veterinary Group, and set up Zoodent International in 1985.

Mr Kertesz says he takes the same rigorous approach whether his patient is animal or human.

"People ask if this is just a bit of fun, but it is a very serious business," he said. "The health, and sometimes the life, of a rare creature is in your hands."

Mr Kertesz has worked on exotic species including gorillas, whales, pandas and elephants all over the world, from Britain and Europe, Hong Kong, Moscow and the Middle East. Earlier this year, he was in Paignton to take a tooth out of the jaws of Sumatran tigress Banda.