A jaw tumour

Oral Surgery

Jaw fractures

Jaw fractures can be very difficult to stabilise due to the extent of the injury anmd the presence of teeth, fractures often occurring aling tooth sockets as in the x-ray below!!!

Jaws are not able tro support much weight so splints and other fixation devices need to be low weight and have minimal leverage effect. When several metalic pins can eb placed appropriately an acrylic external fixator may be an appropriate method of fracture stabilisation:

When fractures occur in the mid or front of the jaw then tooth borne splints can be applied. These are non-invassive so they cause minimal additional trauma:

Interdental wiring is a further technique which can be used alone or in combination with tooth borne splints.

Jaw injuries in cats are even more difficult to stabilise than those in dogs. Here the upper and lower teeth have been bonded together. One jaw now acts as a splint for the other!

Jaw tumours

Dogs and cats sometimes develop oral lumps. These may be caused by inflammation and infection, cysts and tumours. Many of these can be removed surgically. The earlier the better as the likelihood of distant spread is then less, and small tumours are easier to remove than large ones. Tumours should not be allowed to reach the size of the one below before they are treated appropriately:

With malignant tumours it may be necessary to remove large amounts of the jaw and surounding tissue. This sounds extreme, but most animals adapt very quickly and have minimal dysfunction following this type of surgery.The dog below has had one side of the lower jaw removed.

When dealing with tumours involving the upper jaw, modern imaging techniques such as CT and MRI scanning are very helpful as some tumours extend into the nasal cavity:

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