Dental experts have raised doubts over the authenticity of a purported Buddha`s tooth in a Singapore temple, claiming it could not have come from any human being.

More than 60,000 donors poured 45 million Singapore dollars ($29 million) and 27 kilograms of gold into the four-storey building where the tooth, said to be one of Buddha`s molars, is kept in a 3.6-metre-high stupa made of gold.

`There is absolutely no possibility that it is a human tooth,` Pamela Craig, a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne`s school of dental science, was quoted as saying by The Sunday Times.

After examining photographs, Craig said it probably came from a cow or water buffalo.

Human teeth should be rounded with a short crown and a comparatively longer root, but the picture clearly shows a long crown and a shorter root, she noted.

`Looking at a photo is clear enough, because it`s so obvious that it`s not a human tooth,` she said. `It`s like comparing a pear and an apple.`

Four other dentists, including two forensic dental experts, said the tooth could not have come from a human.

`This is an animal cheek tooth - that is, a molar at the back of the mouth,` Professor David Whittaker at Cardiff University in Britain told the newspaper.

The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Singapore`s Chinatown said that a monk discovered the tooth in 1980 in Myanmar (Burma).

He gave it to Venerable Shi Fazhao, the temple`s abbot, in 2002.

The public is allowed to see the tooth twice a year, on Buddha`s birthday and the first day of the Chinese New Year.

`To me, it has always been real, and I have never questioned its authenticity,` Fazhao told the newspaper.

As for the assessments of the dental experts, he said: `I don`t care what they say. If you believe it`s real, then it`s real.`

The temple dismissed the suggestion of conducting DNA tests on its relic.

`It is unlikely that any Buddhist temple or its devotees will agree to subject any sacred Buddha tooth or relic to such a test,` the temple said in a statement.

However, the monks in the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple are not about to let scientists do any tests on their Buddha`s tooth.

They argue that DNA testing is an invasive procedure and is a practical challenge to conduct. Plus, once it`s confirmed as a fake, they`d be out of a job.

Would he let an expert examine the tooth in Singapore? He replied: `It`s mine, why should I let you examine it? Why don`t you go examine what`s in Sri Lanka and China first?`