Canela’s Story

Canela is a precious 11-month-old Frenchie who presented to Veterinary Dental Specialties – Bay Area (Dublin) with a fractured mandible.  She had damaged it running into a wall and needed her jaw to be fixed.

Under anaesthesia, the fracture could be seen (Figure 1), and radiographs confirmed it at the level of the mesial root of the fourth premolar (Figure 2).

Here at VDS, we employ minimally invasive techniques whenever possible, including fracture fixation.  For this fracture, an interdental wire and acrylic splint was chosen.

For this technique:

1. The teeth are cleaned.
2. Next, the fracture is reduced, and a wire is run around the teeth to secure them.
3. Then a layer of acrylic is placed to hold the jaw in position.  In this way we take advantage of the roots as the anchor points for the fixation as opposed to making holes in the bone for screws or pins. Those holes also risk damaging roots as well as neurovascular structures. The other benefit of this technique is that no surgery is necessary to remove the fixation.  The patient is sedated and the acrylic cut and removed from the teeth.
4. The wire/acrylic was placed (Figure 3)

   

5. A post-operative radiograph confirmed excellent apposition of the bones (Figure 4).

   

Canela recovered very well and was back to normal the next day.

Post Surgery Update

Seven weeks later, Canela was represented for wire removal. The acrylic had held up well (Figure 5), and the jaw was in alignment (Figure 6 a and b).

The dental radiograph confirmed that the bone had healed well; however, the fourth premolar was dead and infected (Figure 7). The splint was removed, and the premolar was extracted (Figures 8 & 9). Healing was complete, and she will go on to live a long, healthy life.

Outcomes like this are why veterinarians nationwide entrust their patients to Veterinary Dental Specialties.