Bryan's Brace
One weekend, the on-call equine vet from Oakhill Veterinary Centre was called out to an emergency to visit Bryan, a cheeky 4 year old miniature Shetland pony. Miss Jones, Bryan’s owner had noticed blood suddenly start to pour from Bryan’s mouth. After the bleeding had stopped, the vet was able to examine little Bryan’s mouth and it became apparent that he had fractured his lower jaw. Horses have 6 bottom and 6 upper incisor teeth. Bryan’s fracture ran right the way from between his middle two teeth on the bottom jaw to the outer side of his corner incisor. Bryan was given a potent pain relief drug into his vein for immediate effect and immediately transported to Oakhill Veterinary Centre for fracture repair. At the veterinary clinic, Bryan was heavily sedated in preparation for his surgery and had local anaesthetic injected at various sites around the jaw to numb the nerves that provide sensation to the lower jaw. The fracture site was cleaned and using special orthopaedic wire the fractured jaw was wired back into place. Surgery took 45 minutes, the end result being that Bryan had a brace that passed in between his teeth and through the gums to hold the fractured piece of jaw in place whilst the bone healed. Bryan was much more comfortable straight away after his recovery from the surgery and began eating again straight away. He returned home the next day with a spring in his step and soon returned to his usual cheeky self. The brace remained in place for 8 weeks before removal and Bryan hasn’t looked back since. Miss Jones plans for Bryan to attend shows in 2012 and we wish them the best of luck! Check out Bryan in the Lancashire Evening Post article here! The pictures show Bryan and his fixed jaw
