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Poor Rover received a blow to his face accidentally from a golf club whilst he was chasing a golf ball. The force of the club resulted in multiple facial fractures and a fracture to his jaw. Rover was initially taken to his local vet practice where he had some X-rays to confirm the extent of the damage. He also received pain relief to make him as comfortable as possible and was referred to The Ralph for continued treatment and to repair his jaw.

Rover arrived and was assessed by our Emergency and Critical Care team. He was bright and his mental activity was normal – a good sign! Patients with head trauma must be monitored closely for any neurological signs, bleeding from the brain and any loss of vision. Luckily Rover remained very stable, his blood tests didn’t show any abnormalities and he was still able to open and close his mouth.

Rover was admitted to our Intensive Care Unit, where we continued to monitor him round the clock. Once Rover was feeling better he was transferred to our Dentistry Service, led by our Dentistry Specialist, Simone Kirby. Rover was given a general anaesthetic to keep him relaxed and comfortable throughout his procedure. Simone started by assessing Rover’s mouth and jaw and took a series of X- rays to take a closer look at the injuries.

Rover was diagnosed with a right mandibular (lower jaw) rostral body (situated near the front) fracture. The fracture was stabilised with dental wire and a special acrylic which moulds around the teeth and adds stability, like a splint, whilst the fracture heals. There were also a couple of smaller fractures that would heal by themselves, and did not require any stabilisation. Unfortunately Rover had damaged some of his teeth which needed to be removed. These teeth were kept temporarily in place to support the acrylic mould and dental wire whilst the fracture healed.

Rover recovered well and returned 6 weeks later for his wire, and acrylic mould removal along with the extraction (removal) of the damaged teeth. Rover was given another general anaesthetic so that Simone could perform a dental examination and take a series of X-rays. The X-rays showed the mandibular fracture was healing well. Simone removed one of Rover’s canine teeth and one of his premolar teeth that had been too badly damaged by the accident. Rover recovered well from his second procedure and returned home to his family the following day.

Thank you for reading Rover’s story. For more information about our Dentistry Service and team, be sure to check out the Dentistry page. For regular news and patient stories, be sure to check out our Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Take care,

Team Ralph 🐾