I recently had the happy conclusion to a tricky surgical case. A little over two months ago I was sent a dog by a colleague. The patient was an elderly dachshund who had required a major dental procedure to remove a large number of very rotten teeth.

One tooth in particular was very problematic – the lower canine tooth had become so infected that the surrounding bone had weakened to the point of fracturing as the rotten canine tooth had been removed. My challenge was how to stabilise and repair such weakened bone with so little healthy bone near to the fracture site to attach any sort of plate or implants to.

A mouth guard stuck to the remaining teeth holding the jaw together

The solution was to construct an acrylic splint that I bonded to the few remaining back teeth and across the fracture site to the remaining incisors and opposite canine. The result looked a little like a mouth guard that was stuck to the remaining teeth holding the jaw together.

After ten weeks with the mouth guard I x-rayed my patient’s jaw again and was immensely pleased to see that not only had the infection resolved but the bone was nicely healed. I delicately removed the acrylic splint and was relieved to feel a solid and stabile jaw bone.

My patient was sent home with strict instructions to look after his few remaining teeth and to avoid too many sweet or chewy treats this Christmas!