Repair of Bilateral Comminuted Mandibular Fractures in a 12-Week-Old Puppy Using Locking and Nonlocking Maxillofacial Reconstruction Plates

Abstract

A 12-week-old male intact French bulldog presented to a university teaching hospital for bilateral comminuted caudal mandibular fractures following an altercation with another dog. The fractures were stabilized using locking and standard maxillofacial miniplates. The 8-week and 14-week postoperative reexaminations and radiographs revealed eventual bony healing and remodeling of both mandibular rami, but multiple complications associated with the miniplates were encountered. These included intraoral wound dehiscence, implant fracture, implant loosening, sequestrum formation, and an impacted right mandibular fourth premolar. Implant failure on the alveolar border in this case report was associated with the resorption and new bone deposition of the rostral/caudal ramus, respectively, associated with mandibular growth. An alternate surgical option would have been use of a longer, larger bridging plate placed on the ventral border without use of a dorsal plate to minimize these complications.