7 Apr 2021
José Ruiz, maxillofacial surgeon at Davies Veterinary Specialists in Hertfordshire, resolves cat Dexy’s bilateral temporomandibular joint dysplasia.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
Dexy was diagnosed with bilateral TMJ dysplasia and referred to Davies Veterinary Specialists’ dental and maxillofacial surgery clinic. Image © Davies Veterinary Specialists
Complex surgery performed at a referral practice has resolved a cat’s bilateral temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysplasia.
José Ruiz, maxillofacial surgeon at Davies Veterinary Specialists in Hertfordshire, dealt with Dexy, a 12-year-old female cat with an intermittent locking jaw triggered by her yawning or grooming herself.
She was diagnosed with bilateral TMJ dysplasia, which is rare in cats, and referred to the hospital’s dental and maxillofacial surgery clinic.
Dr Ruiz said: “Dexy was in distress every time her jaw locked, and she couldn’t eat or drink. The only available treatment for this problem is surgery: to prevent the mandibles from locking, due to the abnormal elasticity in the joint’s capsule and ligament, we needed to perform a partial zygomatic arch resection, together with the excision of the dorsal two thirds of the coronoid process.”
Davies’ anaesthesia team performed successful bilateral trigeminal nerve block, allowing Dr Ruiz to approach the zygomatic arch at its ventral aspect.
Dr Ruiz added: “I reflected the skin dorsally and elevated subperiosteally the insertion of the masseter muscle to the ventral aspect of the zygomatic arch.
“Using a piezoeIectric surgery handpiece, I resected the ventral two-thirds of the zygomatic arch in a half moon fashion and separated the masseter muscle fibres along their long axis, exposed the coronoid process and resected its dorsal two-thirds. I then repeated the process on the opposite side.”
Dexy recovered well and was discharged 24 hours after the procedure.
