Three senior doctors were called in from one of India's top dental colleges after the elephant's owner said it had suffered with chronic "tusk ache" for several years and that the infection was getting worse.

The 27-year-old tuskar, Devidasan, hired out for wedding processions and religious festivals, was examined by the team led by Dr CV Pradeep, professor at PSM Dental College in Thrissur, Kerala, who ordered root canal treatment.

Although the painful procedure is common for humans it is believed to be unprecedented for elephants.

The dentists decided to carry out the procedure without using anaesthetic drugs and instead relied on the elephant's 'mahout' or driver to keep it calm.

In a two-and-a-half hour operation, the dentists cleaned a six centimetre cavity which was heavily infected and filled it with almost half a pound of resin - more than 40 times needed for a human filling.

"This is the first surgery of its kind in the world. We are filing a patent for the treatment procedure - there may be some similar cases which need treatment," said Dr Pradeep.

He and his team are now planning to develop a new range of elephant dentistry instruments based on the ouitsized ones they improvised for the operation.

Devidasan is now back at work.